Both Eva Smith and Inspector Goole are shadowy characters in 'An Inspector Calls' Examine their roles in the play.
An Inspector calls
Both Eva Smith and Inspector Goole are shadowy characters in 'An Inspector Calls' Examine their roles in the play.
An Inspector Goole is a play written by JB Priestley in 1945, after both world wars, yet set in 1012, before both world wars. In this essay I hope 2 explore the characters of Eva Smith and Inspector Goole.
Firstly I will look at how the Inspectors is portrayed as shadowy. Throughout the play he has a spooky feel to him which may start from his name being 'Goole' which could b pronounced the same as 'Ghoul' which is a ghost.
Secondly, the inspector seems to know all about the family and the story befor he even asks the questions. This is rooted by the time he comes into the play straight after Birling gave a speech about how "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own..." the inspector comes in and throughout the play he contradicts this comment that he supposedly didn't hear. At the end Sheila seems to realise that the inspector knew almost too much "We hardly told him anything he didn't know."
A further point is he seems to know everything about the future s which works in direct comparison to Mr Birling. The inspector in his last speak says "...the time will soon come when if me do not learn there lessons they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish." This looks very much like the voice of Priestly speaking here about the way people didn't learn after World War one and paid for it in world war 2. This is a complete opposite of Birling as he stats "...the titanic...every luxury - and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable." Yet actually the titanic sank on its first trip.
Finally and probably most obviously the fact that he was not a member of the police force according to the colonel at the end.
I will now look at how Eva smith is Shadowy. Firstly she manages to meat all of them in different places at different times and with a bad end to all of them. As Mr Birling states that it is almost too much of a coincidence.
Secondly, we do not at any point meet her in the play so how do we know that she ever existed. We only hear of her and never from her. This then leads on to how do we know it was one person? It could have been more. This would then make the first point more realistic. She also plays a large variety of roles which would be very difficult for one person to do all of them. She is an employee mistress charity call and prostitute all in one play and described by Gerald and Eric as ...
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Secondly, we do not at any point meet her in the play so how do we know that she ever existed. We only hear of her and never from her. This then leads on to how do we know it was one person? It could have been more. This would then make the first point more realistic. She also plays a large variety of roles which would be very difficult for one person to do all of them. She is an employee mistress charity call and prostitute all in one play and described by Gerald and Eric as pretty whereas by Mr Birling as a trouble maker.
An Inspector calls
Both Eva Smith and Inspector Goole are shadowy characters in 'An Inspector Calls' Examine their roles in the play.
Branching off from the above point is we do not know her reasoning for doing anything. We do not see her make any decisions so how do we know why she made them. Because of the fact we do not meat her it is very difficult to analyse her as all we have is second hand information from other people in the play so therefore no quotes.
The closest we get to seeing her is when the inspector shows the pictures to several of the characters however he only shows it to them one at a time which means he could quite easily show a different picture. This again supports the fact that it could be more than one person.
I will now go on to examine there roles in the play.
In my view the Inspector tries to promote a socialist idea and to make the Birling family see things from a different view or see things in perspective.
His overall view is shown in final speak "we are members of one body. We are responsible for each other" Showing a complete contradiction to what Birling says "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own..." In many ways I think the role of the inspector was to say this. This is because it is the view of Priestley and he put the inspector there and rote this play to support his socialist views.
The inspector controls the development of events. He is the one that decides who will speak and when, then who may or may not leave and who will or will not see the photograph. This is even though he is in someone else's house who, as Birling frequently says, was "a lord mayor of this town just a few years back AND still a magistrate." Even Priestley describes the Inspector, when he first appears on stage by saying "he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness" in the stage notes, symbolizing the fact that he has the leading role within the play.
His "disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking'" sounds like he almost sees through a persons surface to the real person beneath and what they are thinking not just what they are saying. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtlessness of each character's treatment of Eva Smith.
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 through what they have done. He works methodically through the characters present one at a time, partly because he recognizes that "otherwise, there's a muddle", and partly because, given the chance, the characters are all quick to defend each other, or to call upon outside help (such as Colonel Roberts) in order to avoid accepting the truth of what he suggests.
Without the inspector it is unlikely that any of the characters would have admitted what they did wrong.
If he is not a real Inspector, what is he? A clever impostor (but nonetheless human)? The personification of the social conscience the characters all lack or suppress? A supernatural, God-like being (for he certainly seems to know what each character has done, without being told)? The reproachful spirit of Eva Smiths dead child?
These are all possibilities but it is in many ways irrelevant. The play is still the same and the things have all happened weather the inspector really was an inspector or not.
Some how the inspector manages to get the information he wants out off all the people present but he does not control there replies he mearly uses the information he has on Eva Smiths life and character (, her diary and a letter, her photograph, and constant reminders of the horrific death she has suffered,) to create the possibility for the others to face up to what they have done.
After he has gone it is for them to decide whether they are to change or carry on living as though it doesn't matter. Sheila and Eric seem to have learnt whereas Mr. and Mrs. Birling didn't learn anything. Gerald is different as he at least help the girl and made her happy but it is unlikely he would learn from the others mistakes.
The Inspector has a moral dimension which makes him different from an ordinary policeman. He is just as concerned with right and wrong as he is with what is legal. For Example, he sternly tells Birling, that "it's better to ask for the earth [as a worker might do] than to take it [which Birling does]". He also tells the characters that "if you're easy with me, I'm easy with you" This shows he has compassion for those who are willing to accept their responsibility. However it is not as simple as forgiveness, "the girl's [still] dead though" no amount of accepting responsibility can change that fact.
Each character is punished in an appropriate way. Birling fears for his family's reputation at the inquest, Sheila feels shame for her selfishness, Gerald has his affair revealed in front of Sheila, Mrs. Birling has her illusions about the respectability of her family shattered by Eric and Eric is revealed before his indulgent parents as a spoilt and inadequate young man. However notice how in each case the punishment is a consequence of there own behavior. The Inspector himself does not bring punishment from outside. Perhaps this is why they are given a second chance at the end of the play - that their experience should have been a warning to them, and that next time, it is the apocalyptic future predicted by the Inspector's final speech that lies in store for them and for us.
Summary The Inspector sees through each character. He forces each character to admit what they already secretly know. He is Priestley's vehicle for his views on social responsibility. He is the catalyst for the play's events. He controls the play's events. He has a moral dimension. He brings about each character's punishment through there own actions. He is each character's last chance.
Eva Smiths role in the play depends on weather or not she is actually one person or not.
If she is one person and did meat all of the family plus Gerald then her role is as the victim of the Birling family's mistakes collectively causing so much grief that she felt she no longer wanted to live.
However if she was lots of different people then her role was for the "inspector" to make his point and he used her to do so. Her role would no longer involve any pain. She would just be a "story" used to make a point.
In the end her affect on the play is the same. She is the one that makes the Birling family and Gerald think about what they have done, the consequences of what they do and probably most importantly the responsibility they have to the society and the world they live in.
