The inspector is a moral arbiter, if he wasn’t there none of the characters would of confessed to there mistakes, and selfish acts. Mr.birling did not acknowledge that dismissing Eva smith out of a primary job, just because she wanted a little increase in wages, which would have been an average wage and nothing to big. He also fired her to set an example to the rest of his workers; she was used as an escape goat. Sheila thought her spitefulness was nothing out of the ordinary and most definitely not ‘anything very terrible at the time’. Gerald needed to admit what he had done to Eva smith, he was trying to cover up his involvement from his jealous fiancée. Mrs.birling rather like her husband Mr.Birling is selfish and cold to have known ‘what the girl was feeling’. Eric has resorted to theft, which he also needed to reveal. Without the inspectors ‘purposefulness’ the characters never would have confessed or even thought about what they have done.
The inspector’s appearance and the news he brings are a contrast from the occasion which is being celebrated on the stage. The inspectors name Goole, sounds pretty mysterious, and gives the inspector a mysterious quality. The name brings a resemblance to the word ghoul, a ghoul is a spirit which takes fresh life from corpses, and this bares a resemblance with the girl’s death.
If he is not a real inspector what is he, a clever impostor, or could he be the personification of the social conscience the characters lack? A supernatural being because he knows everything that everyone has done in a perfect chronological order, and he virtually senses all of the characters thoughts. Which all could not of been written in Eva smiths diary, or any other personal items.
The inspector even makes the most educated, the most highly ranked social classes confess, and virtually control what they say. Sheila tells Gerald: ‘somehow he makes you’, but the inspector does not control the characters reactions, he only uses information he has gained from a source, which are Eva smith’s last items. The inspector on the other hand does use his own techniques to make the reaction more vivid, by constant reminders of what has happened, his persistence is ideal, the repetition if emotive words such as ‘dead’, lay little seeds of doubt in the characters minds, and when these seeds bloom, the characters have very vivid reactions.
The inspector is more concerned about morally condemning the characters then what is legal or not. He sternly tells Mr.Birling that ‘it’s better to for the earth (this is what the workers asked for) then to take it (which Mr.Birling does). He also tells the characters ‘if you’re easy with me, I’m easy with you’. Consequently the more the characters try to defend them selves the harder and more vivid their confessions are going to be, but if they are going to confess, it going to be easier upon themselves.
The inspector has the compassion for the characters who are willing to accept responsibility, but nowhere near forgiveness, because the ‘girls (still) dead though’. Each character is punished towards their weakness, which gives the audience a sense of justices, and revenge. For example, Mr.birling fears his family’s reputation, and doesn’t want this inquest to be broadcasted to the public; Sheila feels shame towards her selfishness out of spite; Gerald has his affair revealed in front of his fiancée; Mrs.Birling was under the illusion that her family was perfect, no social problems, and that they were under a good influence, but she was wrong, Mrs.Birling has discovered a great deal about her family situation. Now that the younger generation of the family tree have adapted to not relying on there parents, they know that there parents don’t know much about any situation and have lost all sense of respect for their parents; Eric is revealed as an incompetent, inadequate young man to his parents. Even though they have committed all these moral crimes, none of them illegal, but the punishment the characters are bearing is from their own mental conscience.
The inspector sees through every character, and he forces each character to reveal what he already knows, by ‘drip feeding’ them information. He is in a moral dimension, and wants others to join, by making them confess, making the characters think that it is there last chance to salvage some pride, but how wrong they are.
The ‘drip feeding’ technique has been very successful for the inspector, considering that it has evoked reactions every time he has used it. For example Sheila is trying to remember when she had done this dreadful jealous act out of spite, and the inspector fills in the blanks in her mind by saying ‘At the end of January-last year’. This gives the characters the sense that the inspector is omniscient, this forces them to confess, in such a provoked manner it provides the audience with justice and revenge, that they want to see happen to these characters.
The inspector also acts as a teacher, to make the characters learn from their mistakes, and lays them a foundation so that they can grow into better beings, and will not even think of doing these senseless acts again. The inspector teaches the characters by erasing all possible lies available, then giving them a life lesson, which they can learn from, for example drinking, the inspector thinks that when ‘you’re drunk you need to be responsible’, this is a life lesson toward Eric and he probably had acknowledged from this.
The inspector also has narrative functions, simply because he creates tension, this is to make the plot more exciting, and make the characters more immune to telling the truth. The inspector does this by talking severely, interrupting conversation, and making quick sharp gestures. The inspector does not waste any time in his enquiries, and makes sure he is always in control of the situation, and makes his points clear. ‘Do you want me to tell you-in plain words?’ This is a very intimidating line from a lower social status inspector to a higher classed business man. The inspector doesn’t ‘have much time’ to procrastinate questions, so he will just cut in and ask them. This helps the inspector to get through every person in a methodical logical order; hence the plot can be developed.
From the following you can draw the conclusion that the inspector plays a massive role in the inspector calls, from a dramatic instrument to have narrative functions, and acting as a vehicle to convey Priestley’s socialist views. If the inspector wasn’t in the play, the play wouldn’t work; life would be difficult for Priestley to put across his views. The essential elements of the play to make it interesting are lost if the inspector wasn’t there, so he is very essential, and is one of the most important characters of the play ‘an inspector calls’.
