Priestly uses Goole as a dramatic device to break away the Birlings’ social attitudes piece by piece. Priestly describes how Goole “has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking”, as if he is examining and then shattering their beliefs. Goole is used as a dramatic device to raise the issue of social attitudes and then examine and destroy the opposing view, whilst promoting the socialist views of J. B. Priestly.
Throughout the play, Priestly uses Goole to hit back at the Birlings’ social beliefs, creating for the audience clear ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides for them to consider. Mr. Birling says, after learning of his involvement in Eva Smith’s death, that “If you don’t come down hard on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the Earth”. The Inspector replies, “it’s better to ask for the earth than to take it”. This shows the audience how Goole will always be on the heels of the Birling’s and Gerald, to put forward a socialist view on the social attitudes of that time.
Leading on from just general social attitudes, Priestly also raises the issue of community and a person’s responsibility associated with that. The Birling’s and Gerald adopt a ‘laissez-faire’ view, and look out only for themselves. Mrs. Birling shows up the true extent of how much the Birling’s and Gerald have lived their lives to the ‘laissez-faire’ attitude. When Goole tries to talk to Mrs. Birling about her own involvement in Eva Smith’s death, she insists, “naturally I don’t know anything about this girl”. She is of course referring to Eva Smith as her social inferior, and Priestly uses this to prove to the audience that Mrs. Birling, “a rather cold woman”, has no sense of community. Priestly uses the Birling’s and Gerald’s attitude on community to bring the issue up and emphasise its importance.
Priestly uses Goole to challenge Mr. Birling’s views on community. Before the Inspector’s arrival in the first act, Mr. Birling is giving Eric and Gerald some “good advice”. Just as Mr. Birling talks about community and responsibility showing the family’s feeling of self-satisfaction, Inspector Goole arrives. There is a “sharp ring” of the doorbell, interrupting Mr. Birling’s talk on “community and all that nonsense”. This is ironic as the dramatic device of using the doorbell to interrupt Mr. Birling’s talk on how “a man has to make his own way”, symbolises the entrance of Inspector Goole into their lives, and he has come to teach about community and responsibility towards others.
The social sectioning shown by Mrs. Birling and the general pre-war social attitudes Mr. Birling represents shows the results of the social attitudes towards community. Priestly shows how, with these beliefs, a real ‘community’ could not possibly form. Priestly raises the issue of community through showing the need for change, and then presents the Inspector as the person for it.
Priestly brings up the idea of family first when Mr. Birling tells the audience of how he thinks that it is important to look after only your own family. However, when we take a closer look at how Priestly presents the Birling family themselves, we see that they are barely an actual ‘family’ at all. There is little communication between the characters, and they know little about one another, which shows the audience what shallow lives they have. Priestly shows the importance of a family by showing how the Birling’s are only a family on the outside, and how attitudes to community etc., can affect the ‘family’ as a whole.
Priestly also raises the issue of family through change. After finding out that her fiancé Gerald had an affair, Sheila says to him, “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here”. This shows us how being a family was not a part of their lives, but may begin to be now. Priestly shows us the issue of family by demonstrating how little a family they were before and how they didn’t know each other before their involvement in the death of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton was told by Inspector Goole (a catalyst for change).
Inspector Goole represents moral and social justice. In many ways, we look at the Inspector as the opposite of Mr. Birling, as he is always putting forward moralistic views. Gerald tells Goole “we’re respectable citizens and not criminals”, to which the Inspector replies, “Sometimes there isn’t as much difference as you think”. This shows a clear difference between the Birling’s and Gerald’s views to those of the Inspectors. On one hand we have the Birling’s and Gerald who are only concerned about themselves and on the other hand, the Inspector representing moralistic thinking; the audience sees the two sides arguing over morals and this is how Priestly brings up the issue in the play. In some ways, we could see Goole as a dramatic device through which Priestly can channel his own socialist views.
Priestly gives the Inspector a feeling of omniscience, which supports the moral judgements he brings up throughout the play. Sheila insists to Gerald at the end of act one that he can’t keep his secret from the Inspector, saying “why – you fool – he knows”. Because the Inspector knows so much, the audience feels a sense of reassurance with the moral views he brings up, as they know he is always right.
As well as having contrasting moral views with the Birling’s and Gerald, Goole also puts forward the notion of responsibility. We see a lack of responsibility with the Birlings and how they treat others. Mr. Birling fired Eva Smith without thinking of the possible consequences for her. The severity of this is made clear to us at the start of the play when Eric and Sheila question why he thought it necessary to that. It is interesting that Priestly has used other characters as well as the Inspector to show new ideas. This continues throughout the play, using Eric and Sheila to represent the idea of responsibility and question others as to their irresponsibility.
The issue of responsibility is chiefly brought up by the opportunity of change. The Inspector is used to give the Birling’s a chance to take on the responsibility the have - “with privileges comes responsibility”. The characters of Eric and Sheila face up to their actions and try to convince their parents and Gerald to do the same. Before the Inspectors departure, Priestly uses repetition. Goole says, “each one of you helped kill her. Remember that. Never forget it…Remember what you did”. This is how Priestly shows how important he thinks responsibility is, and is how he has brought it up in the play, and wants the audience to remember it.
Priestly has used a variety of dramatic and staging devices to put across his own social and moralistic views. He uses characterization throughout to corroborate his beliefs and show them to the audience. His use of dramatic devices within the play reflects and supports the points he is making, whilst showing up the flaws in the oppositions argument. This proves to create clear ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides, therefore showing the points of his argument well, and making the audience question their morals.
