The Inspector's first aim is to investigate the death of Eva Smith and force a confession from each member of the Birling family in his own strange way. He attacks Sheila with a series questions, “Why did you do that?”, “Was it the girl's fault?”, “What happened?” This interrogation technique puts pressure on the suspects making it extremely hard for them to lie. It also speeds up the enquiries and allows the inspector to move quickly from one person to the next. However throughout the play it become apparent he already has a vast quantity of information about Eva's case already; “The girl discovered that this money you were giving her was stolen, didn't she?” The Inspector answers his own questions which leads us to believe he is not a real police inspector. As the play goes on the Inspector embodies the voice of Priestley and his ideas on morality, In his final speech he preaches “We are responsible for each other.” and if we don't look after one another there will be horrific consequences, a valuable message Priestley was trying to get across to the audience.
The Inspector also does this by entering at the climax of Arthur Birlings arrogant speech where he states “a man has to make his own way-has to look after himself and his family too, of course.” This dramatic entrance emphasises his authority and shows that Mr Birlings views on morality are crude and must be put to rights. The timing of Goole's entrance also suggest he will be the man to do this. Priestley also uses dramatic irony to reflect Mr Birlings portentous views, he foolishly says “there isn't a chance of war.” However we know as an audience watching the play from 1945 onwards he incorrect. This emphasises Mr Birlings false optimism about the future and shows the audience his views on society are extremely irrelevant. The Inspector interrupts the extravagant celebrations of the Birlings immediately bringing them back down to earth and speeding up the pace of the play. This reflects the hectic lives of the Birlings once the Inspector has entered them. The Inspector's quick fire questions also speed up the pace of the play, allowing Goole to move his line of inquiry quickly from one person to the next. The Inspector creates tension after each episode of questioning causing the character to be frightened and more aware of him. Sheila convinces Gerald to make a quick confession after the Inspector interviews her. She realises “he knows” everything about Eva and hates “to think how much he know that we don't know yet.” This emphasises the fear he puts into he minds of the Birlings leading him to have psychological power over them. We also see a fast development in the characters thoughts after each session of questioning, We see Sheila's “sudden alarm” as she realises Eric is the father of Eva's dead child. The inspector works systematically to create maximum effect on the other characters, he waits for Mrs Birling to “blame the young man who was the father of the child” and suggest that he should “be dealt with very severely” before reveling it was in fact her son. The inspector works methodically with only “One person and one line of enquiry at a time.” This is so he can dominate the Birlings and censor what information they tell him. He commands them to “come along”, “come over here” and “stop”. This intimidates the family and forces them to listen to the Inspector, it shows his superiority and emphasises his integral role in the play with the characters and audience clinging to his every word. Each act ends with the inspector revealing a vital piece of information. For example at the end of Act One Sheila finds out that the reason Gerald didn't go near her all last summer was because he was seeing Daisy Renton. This creates a climax that interests the audiences attention just before the curtain falls.
The Inspector's final speech is extremely important as it emphasises the plays key theme of responsibility. The inspector believes that “we don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are all responsible for each other.” and during his speech he uses persuasive techniques to try and teach the Birlings this moral message. He uses “I” to make the audience empathises with Eva and believe he is speaking the truth, it makes his speech more personal and reveals his true emotions to the audience. He also uses repetition in the sentence “there are millions and millions ans millions if Eva smiths.” to suggest the suffering of lower classes will countine for many years unless we begin to take responsibility for each other. I also believe it reflects how long Eva's struggle was before she finally decided to commit suicide. His prophecy of “fire and blood and anguish” creates powerful imagery connected with the first world war. This draws on Priestley's memories and past experiences of the wars creating maximum effect on the Birlings causing this to be an experience they will never forget like the wars themselves.
Throughout the play Inspector Goole has “massively taken charge” of the characters, His omniscience intimidates them causing a confession. Each member of the family acts differently to the inspector, Arthur Birling trys to threaten the inspector with the power he has within the Brumley community he warns the Goole he is “still on the bench- so i know the Brumley police officers pretty well.”This suggests Mr Birling is extremely frightened of the Inspector and is trying to cover it up by enforcing his authority. In contrast Sheila respects the Goole and listens to what he has to say, with the aid of the inspector she goes through the transaction of ignorance to knowledge. However she is still petrified of the inspector and believes she “mustn't try to build up a kind of wall between us ... the Inspector will just break it down.” This emphasises the fact Sheila feels she can't lie to the Inspector as he dominates her. Although, at the end of the play she notes that no-one told him anything that he didn't already know. At the end of the play the Birling split into two groups. Mr and Mrs Birling remain completely untouched by the Inspectors interrogation. All Mr Birling can think about is his career and reputation, he tells Eric “There'll be a public scandal.”, “I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours List-” This shows Mr Birling has learnt nothing from the evenings events and will never adapt to Priestley's views on morality. Whereas Sheila and Eric grow as people through the experience. I believe they were the most affected by the inspectors interrogation and Sheila goes on to say “I remember what he said, how he looked, and what he made me feel.” This shows the Inspector has had a powerful effect on Sheila and cause her to change and learn from her previous actions. I believe this is because she is young and has a lot of will power which makes it a lot easier for her to change her bad habitats for the better, She is also less stubborn than her parents and doesn't have her reputation or business to take into account.
The Inspector has many roles in the play “An inspector calls.” His main role is to act as a catalyst speeding the play up and causing a quick confession out of every member of the Birlings. This teaches the audience about Eva Smith's horrific life and the struggle she had to go through as an Edwardian women. The Inspector also takes on a supernatural role in the play, knowing all the Birlings confessions before he even questions them. The name “Goole” also adds to the mystery of the Inspector as it is closely connected with the word ghoul, a spirit which is said to take fresh life from corpses. This is highly suspicious as the Inspector enters the Birlings lives “two hours” after Eva's death. However I believe the Inspector is a dramatic device of Priestley's as a means of conveying his ideas about morality. In his final speech he states “we are responsible for each other.” a key message Priestley was trying to get across to the audience. “An Inspector Calls” would be extremely unsuccessful without the potent character of Inspector Goole as the play wouldn't flow properly and the Birlings would have never confessed to their crimes or as Eric cleverly put it; “He was our police inspector all right.”
