The effect made on Birling’s daughter, Sheila, is a complete contrast she is moved, traumatized by the revelation of Eva Smith’s suicide and death. With the realisation that she has inflicted suffering upon this girl, Shelia starts to cry through guilt this an obvious effect from the Inspector’s visit however there are also subtle effects, in her behaviour and conduct, which lead the audience to believe that Goole’s words and actions are reshaping her rather (before the Inspector’s visit), immoral, moral fibre. I believe that Shelia, unlike the others, truly respects Goole as a young girl would respect, though in awe, God or a similar symbol of power I believe this is because of the omniscient characteristics of Inspector Goole. Therefore after this revelation feels there is no point in trying to hide anything from Goole this becomes more evident after this comment, “You mustn’t try to build a kind of wall between us and that girl. If you do, then the Inspector will just break it down. And it’ll be all the worse when he does” this shows that Sheila even opposes her own mother’s innocence, in front of the Inspector, because the helplessness she feels when in the company of Inspector Goole and also because of this reformation of her ethical views.
Most importantly Shelia felt guilty for what she done to get Eva Smith sacked from her promising job at Milwards, which she admits, “I’ve told my father – he didn’t seem to think it amounted to much – but I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse” this was as result of the Inspector’s visit so she was effected probably the most of the most of the six main characters. Sheila and Eric were both heavily affected by the realisation that they had provoked a dire time in Eva Smith’s life, however Sheila was immediately effected just by the mentioning of the Eva suicide not just when she realised that she had played a part in her Eva’s suicide. To wrap I would like to explain that Sheila consistently supported the actions of the (clearly righteous) Inspector Goole, unlike her family had. This shows that she was indeed affected in a good way by his visit, as this quote highlights, “Don’t you understand? If I could help her now, I would -”. Also even when the matter that Goole wasn’t an Inspector arises, and is proved, Sheila still retains the moral message Goole had elucidated, “Whoever that Inspector was, it was anything but a joke. You began to learn something. And now you’ve stopped. You’re ready to go on the same old way… I’m not” this shows the length at which the Inspector’s visit has affected her.
Gerald Croft is the son of a competitor of Arthur Birling and is the fiancée of Sheila. Similar to Arthur Birling, Gerald’s initial response to Goole’s unorthodox detective techniques is slight irritation. I feel he somewhat follows Birling’s lead to bond with his, soon to be, father-in-law before showing his real feelings when it is revealed that he knew and heavily influenced Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s life. It is obvious by his reaction to her death that Daisy/Eva meant an awful lot to Gerald, he is clearly very distressed by her death as it brings back the memories of her which he probably would have tried to forget due to his engagement to Sheila. Gerald is perhaps the most effected by the initial news that Eva/Daisy is dead as he is the only character that had known her for a prolonged period of time and had genuinely cared for her. Inspector Goole’s questioning of Gerald seemed fairly innocuous in effect however Gerald was quite moved by it all, “In that case – as I’m rather more – upset - by this then I probably appear to be – and – well, I’d like to be alone for a while”. Obviously Gerald is rather upset by this ordeal you’d this would bring him round to the idea that him and the Birling family must learn from their mistakes and make sure that nothing of the sort happens again yet he similar to the reaction of Arthur Birling decides matters can go back to the same as they were before. Therefore although Gerald was distraught by the reason of the Inspector’s visit he wasn’t influenced enough to change his way of thinking, mainly do the fact that he didn’t seem to value Goole’s judgement when he discovered he wasn’t a real police inspector.
Exasperated, is the only word I use to describe Mrs.Birling’s reaction to the entire situation as she seems to be exasperated at how Inspector Goole treats her, because she believes that as she is of a higher class she should be treated with nothing but respect. Mrs.Birling seems impervious to the fact that Eva Smith’s death was the result of her actions, “I accept no blame for it at all” and “The blame? First, the girl herself”; this shows a coldness and selfishness, which she is consistent throughout the play. As she seems almost completely unaffected during the Inspector’s visit, this a reflection of her egotistical personality and frustration, that Goole is ruining their evening, is the only effect he appears to have on her, although she is taken aback by the realisation that Eric has fathered this girl’s child however this is more Eric’s doing rather than a result of the Inspector’s visit.
Finally Eric, who is less vocal than others, seems genuinely disturbed by the fact that a young girl had mutilated her body in such a way as this outburst shows, “Inspector: Burnt her inside out, of course.
Eric: (involuntarily) My God!” When Eric begins to realise that this girl is the same girl that he had impregnated and stolen money for he slips out of the house, perhaps to gather his thoughts or perhaps through cowardice. When he comes back however he overcomes this and answers the questions of Goole, he seems guilt stricken for how he had affected Eva’s life. Also, similar to his sister, he appears to have rethought his moral compass as it were by the end of the play as he agrees with his sister that they all should learn from this experience, “No Sheila’s right. It doesn’t” make any difference to the fact that they had all done something wrong. This statement just goes to show how the Inspector’s visit has affected Eric, and his sister Sheila. So in conclusion Goole has the effect on Eric that he finally realises his responsibilities in the world, the consequences of his actions and the importance of guilt and repentance. Although he knows he cannot help Eva now the Inspector’s visit has convinced him to never treat anyone like that again and the value of taking into account the hopes, fears, suffering and happiness of everybody in his life. Essentially this effect is the most significant as it will last with Eric for life.
“An Inspector Calls” is extremely clever and well made play this is mainly due to the fact that Priestley is so proficient at employing the massively effective dramatic techniques. For instance the entire play is set in the, perceivable ordinary, Birling dining room, which gives the audience the, underused, benefit to concentrate completely on the building of the character’s relationships and personality as this vitally important in the overview of the plays dynamics. Furthermore peculiarly all six main characters are never on stage all at the same time. This creates an ignorance between not just the audience and the off stage characters but also between the off stage characters and the on stage individuals. Slowly this ignorance builds up the dramatic tension and suspense until all is revealed in a highly dramatic finale when ignorance is turned to knowledge.
Dramatic irony is also in exploited in “An Inspector Calls” this can be used because of the advantage of hindsight as the play was written in 1946 but it is set in 1912. Therefore Priestley uses Arthur Birling as outlet for his references to the upcoming World Wars, the references are haunting similar to the attitude that Birling takes upon the business of Eva Smith, “Eric: What about war?
Birling: Just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and talking nonsense, you’ll hear people say war’s inevitable. And to that I say – fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war.” This technique gives a chilling insight into the views of “important” people of that time but also an early indication that Birling could be wrong about other things as well. This is further highlighted with his reference to the Titanic “Look at the progress we’re making… Why a friend of mine went over this new liner last week – Titanic -… unsinkable” Wrong again Birling! This irony is already showing a glimpse into who is going to have the correct, when it comes to Preistley’s opinion, answers for deciphering Inspector Goole’s moral warning message. In addition at the end of each act there is always a “cliff-hanger” to keep the audience on their toes wanting more drama and revelations, keeping the tension to an absolute maximum.
J.B. Preistley was a socialist and a supporter of the Labour Party who believed in the philosophy, shared by Preistley’s creation Inspector Goole, that, “Millions and millions of ordinary people are still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and, fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” Arthur Birling is a converse in political views as he stands for the more Conservative Government stance of, “Every man for himself”. This is interesting because it shows that Preistley is trying to get his political view across in this play, this seems to be his main aim. Fascinatingly enough Preistley actually fought in WW1 so he has a much better view of the consequences of the government’s decision to go to war. I think Preistley, as well as entertaining audience with a well-executed piece of murder-mystery, wanted his audience to witness that if we don’t learn the lessons of the past we are condemned to repeat it for example WW1 and WW2, as the Birlings did. Also the will notice that it is both the younger characters that understand the important principles of Inspector Goole’s teachings, showing Preistley believes youth is the answer. In conclusion Preistley designed, very cleverly, this play to be a message to future generations that everybody needs to work together in harmony to be able to progress, probably, in the world and he believes the answer to this is the new Labour Government that he supports.
