After Mr. Birling has made his speech about how 'every man should look after himself', the Inspector mysteriously appears and starts asking them questions about a girl who had died in the infirmary after drinking some disinfectant. He controls the development of events: who will speak and when; who may or may not leave; who will or will not see the photograph .The Inspector doesn’t observe the rules of deference regarding social class hierarchy. Even Priestly describes the Inspector, when he first appears on stage, in terms of ‘massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’ (p.11); symbolizing the fact that he is an unstoppable force within the play. His ‘disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking’ (p.11) gives the impression that he sees through the surface appearances of the real person beneath. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtlessness of each character’s treatment of the girl. His role in the play is not simply to confront each character with the truth, but to force each character to admit the truth they already know. One by one he shows the photo to Birling's and Gerald and reveals the story of each character and the relation with Eva Smith. Some show remorse like Eric and Sheila, others do not like Mr. and Mrs. Birling and Gerald is in the middle. He works methodically through the characters present one at a time, because he recognizes that ‘otherwise, there’s a muddle’ (p.12).
The Inspector is the catalyst for the events of the play: without him, none of the characters' secrets would ever have come into the open, for a variety of reasons. For Birling could not see that he did anything memorable or wrong in sacking a troublemaker; Sheila thought her rather spiteful jealousy of a pretty shop-assistant was not 'anything very terrible at the time' (p.24); Gerald needed to conceal his involvement with the girl from a jealous fiancée; Mrs. Birling is too cold ever to 'have known what [the girl] was feeling' (p.45) and her effect seems lost on her; and Eric had resorted to theft, which he too needed to conceal. Without the Inspector's 'purposefulness', each character could not or would not have acknowledged their behavior.
The Inspector has come into the Birling’s house to tell them about what they have done – and to see their reaction. One way he did this is by using emotive language to get the readers interested and for the sympathy. He describes Eva Smith of Daisy Renton as a “pretty” and “lively” girl who died in “misery and agony – hating life”. To Mrs. Birling he says Eva/Daisy was “alone, friendless, almost penniless, desperate” and all that Mrs. Birling did was “slam the door in her face”. He also tells them that Eva/Daisy is now lying “with a burnt out inside on a slab”. It is Sheila who particularly reacts with the emotive language. But after his “… fire blood and aguish” speech everybody is affected – Sheila is “quiet crying”, Mrs. Birling has “collapsed into a chair”, Eric is “brooding desperately” and Mr. Birling “hastily swallows” a drink.
The Inspectors role challenges Mr. Birling speech that: ‘Every man must only look out for himself’, to show that this is no the case. Throughout the play he demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others; his views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech: that ‘we are members of one body. We are responsible for one another’ (p56). Responsibility and Issues of class are two of the key themes of the play, and the Inspector is Priestley’s vehicle for putting across his own views of this as a socialist. Priestly uses the Inspector to pose these questions:
- Is it right that the upper class gain more respect?
- Is it right that they should ‘judge’ those below them?
- Is it right that they can control and influence the lives of the lower classes?
- Should the upper class have ‘rights’ without ‘obligations’?
In his final speech, just when his about to exit, he is speaking as much to the audience as to the characters on stage. He goes over all the gruesome details for the final time and gives them a lecture. He makes them feel guilty (even Mrs. Birling collapses into a chair) – his speech really stabs them about the full implications of what they really did. He tells them how their actions affect the whole world:
“If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night”
These words are a warning to the audience that if we don’t stop being selfish their may be a repeat to the ‘fire and blood and anguish’ of the two world wars. Then he goes, leaving them “staring, subdued and wondering”.
From the beginning of the play the Inspector is no what he seems. At first you have no suspicions of the Inspector, but as the play progresses on it slowly dawns on you that the Inspector might be an imposter. All my theories may be correct because Priestly does not really mention what he really is and leaves out imagination to come up with conclusions. The Inspector is obviously as real as all the characters. Inspector Goole’s name is an obvious pun on ‘ghoul’, a malevolent spirit or ghost. He could be some kind of Spirit, sent on behalf of the dead girl to torment the consciences of the characters in the play, or as a sort of cosmic policeman conducting an inquiry as a preliminary to the Day of Judgment, or simply as a preliminary of things to come. The inspector’s somber appearance and the news he brings are a contrast with the happy and elegant air of celebration on stage. Certainly it seems that Priestly did not want to promote a single interpretation of whop he Inspector ‘really’ is. His dramatic power lies in this. To reveal his identity as a hoaxer or as some kind of ‘spirit’ would have spoilt the unresolved tension that is so effective at the end of the play.
Priestly describes Goole as an ‘ordinary looking man’. Inspector Goole is ordinary looking because he represents the ordinary man and woman who suffer at the hand of the minority ruling Upper Class. The Inspector doesn’t conform to any of the Birling’s’ idea about class. He treats everyone the same. Mr. Birling brags about playing golf with the Chief Constable and the Inspector only says, “I don’t like playing golf”. He also says “I’ve never wanted to play golf”. The Inspector is not interested in being caught in Mr. Birling’s threats or showing off. Mr. And Mrs. Birling are particularly disdainful. When Edna says that an Inspector’s called, Mr. Birling replies “An Inspector? What kind of Inspector?” as though he could be the rat-man, or a plumber or something. Their Inspector doesn’t stoop too there level. He doesn’t use the terms like “of that class” like the Birling’s do – for him, Eva Smith was just ‘a young woman’. He knows theirs more to life than class. The Inspector is not impressed by Author Birling’s public profile as former Alderman and Lord Mayor. He doesn’t drink some of the ‘special’ port bought especially for the occasion. Overall, he doesn’t follow the etiquette.
Between the late 1800s and the early 1900s great technological advances were made including; telephones, electricity, phones, cars etc. Modern man was great! The rich had great access to rights and technological luxury but few responsibilities towards the poor. Mr. Birling can represent all this.
Mr Birling's key characteristic is his complacency. He is well off (as the opening stage directions suggest), and he believes he always will be: that 'we're in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity' (p.6). This success, however, has been at the expense of others - he threw the girl out of her job for asking for a modest rise, and intends in the future to work with Crofts Limited 'for lower costs and higher prices' (p.4), exploiting his power as a capitalist to profit at the expense of others.
Birling does not believe he has a responsibility to society, only to his family: 'a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own' (p.10). He is not upset, unlike Eric, at hearing the details of the girl's death (p.12), which shows him to be a little heartless. He is suspiciously defensive when he thinks the Inspector is accusing him of causing it, and - like Mrs Birling - is relieved when he thinks the finger is no longer pointing at him. This is hypocritical because, as the Inspector says, 'the girl's [still] dead, though' (p.18). He also has double standards: for he sees nothing strange in wanting to protect Sheila from the unpleasantness of the girl's life and death, yet feels no guilt at not having protected the girl herself.
Crucially, Priestley undermines this self-important, complacent man, who believes his only responsibility is to his family, right at the start of the play. He is shown as short-sighted and wrong:
During this period it is very important to be aware of some of the important historic events that were going on.
'We're in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity' The Wall Street Crash (1929) and the Great Depression within a generation. This is important to the play because the inspector is in the play to show the Birling’s and rich middle class family who own their own business the error of the their ways because greed will and does lead to poverty and economic insatiability as shown by the Wall street crash.
Mr Birling in the Play predicts that 'There isn't a chance of war' even though he was clearly wrong because their was a world war within two years, with a second to follow within the same lifetime. The inspector here is showing that the ignorance of the upper class is wrong and not reliable. The proving that even though the rich people feel as though they have the authority to role hence only middle class men who owned businesses were only aloud to vote they did not always know what’s best and can not be left alone to run the country single headedly.
Other several wrong theories were also comment by Mr Birling though out the play. For Example:
'In 1940...you'll be living in a world that'll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations' The General Strike (1926) and the continued rise of the Trade Union Movement
The Titanic: 'unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable' SS Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage
This dramatic irony at his expense encourages us to question how many of his other beliefs are correct; Priestley, as a socialist, is not sympathetic to what this capitalist believes.
The Inspector represents the change that was coming to destroy the old way of living. He represents the new world order that’s come to destroy the old world order.
Inspector Goole has several functions in the play. He acts as the storyteller, linking the separate incidents into one coherent life-story. He often supplies dates or fills in background information. He also behaves like a father confessor to each character, encouraging them to acknowledge their guilt for Eva Smith’s suicide, and to repent. Significantly, the Inspector himself never forgives nor punishes. Each character is made to face up to the fact that they must find the courage to judge themselves: only then will they have learned enough to be able to change.
Sometimes the Inspector behaves as the voice of social conscience:
“You see, we have to share something. If there’s nothing else, we’ll have too share our guilt”
He points out the social responsibilities become greater as privileges increase.
Perhaps the Inspector is a religious voice, to make us change our minds if we thought in a selfish way (think about yourself and family first).
The role of the Inspector in ‘An Inspector Calls’ is to notify, to the Birling’s and audience, that times are changing. People cannot just look out for themselves and their family. We all have the responsibility to look after one another because ‘we are members of one body’ and if we don’t and just judge people because of their class than the may be more deaths like Eva Smiths!!
