The way Priestley describes the inspector’s physical description is to make him look more professional for the job. “Dresses in a darkish suit of the period”, Priestley also describes the inspector as “he speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking”, this sort of hints us that he is not an ordinary inspector, as an ordinary inspector would not do that. However Priestley describes Birling very differently, “is heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech”. Priestley tells us that Birling is his own hatred in businessmen who are only interested in making money. This shows us the differences between the two characters because Birling speaks a lot about himself whereas the inspector is more interested in getting information that he needs rather than on himself, or Mr.Birling – he is very laid back. Mr.Birling’s attitude compared to the inspector’s attitude is that Mr.Birling likes things to be of high standards. When it comes to social responsibility, Birling does not believe init whereas the inspector does, as he sees himself as a judge.
The name Inspector “Goole” sounds like a ghost name so this makes the audience think that the inspector maybe a ghost. This also makes him very mysterious.
The differences between the two characters on their social responsibility is that Birling does not believe in it and he thinks it’s a whole load of nonsense and by saying this “a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself”, this tells the audience that Birling only cares about himself, and no one else. On the other hand the inspector says we are “responsible for each other”.
Priestley shapes an audiences’ response in many ways, firstly he uses Birlings’ long speeches which represent the businessmen and shows us that he is only interested in himself and his business, also in making money, whereas he does not care about “community and all that nonsense”. Priestley makes Birling only think about himself and his own needs to shape the audiences response and for them to see how negative he could be. However Priestley also uses the inspector so that he could correct Birling and make him look like a fool with his mistakes in front of the audience. The Birlings represent the richer people in society that do not care for their fellow people; for example, Birling sacked Eva Smith for striking for a higher salary.
At the end of act 1, Sheila says “why – you fool – he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t yet. You’ll see. You’ll see”. By Sheila saying this, it shapes the audiences response and leaves them feeling and thinking about what she said. Sheila appears to understand that the Inspector already knows all the facts and will force them to admit the truth sooner rather than later. In her conversation with Gerald, he claims that he will be able to keep the truth of his affair with Eva Smith a secret from the Inspector. Sheila calls Gerald "a fool” and correctly tells him that the Inspector "knows about everything.” Priestly uses many techniques to build up tension at the ends of Acts 1 and 2. This includes the control of the plot and the characters relationships and development.
Priestly uses Mr.Birling's very fixed personality to create some dramatic irony from the audience's perspective. "I say there isn't a chance of war… makes war impossible. The Titanic. Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable. By 1940 you'll be living in a world that'll have forgotten all these Capital verses Labour agitations. There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere - except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally." The audience know and understand that in two years time the country will be at war and that the Titanic will have sunk. When Mr. Birling speaks of peace and prosperity in the 1940's the audience know that there is another war, the play was actually written in this period.
The Inspector is also used as a dramatic devise by Priestly to help create tension. The character of the Inspector is used to control what is revealed when near the end of the act the Inspector shows Sheila a photograph of the girl which immediately reveals to the audience that Sheila is involved too as she recognises the girl and runs of crying. The tension builds up throughout Act 1 and gets greater at the end of the act. When the Inspector mentions that Eva Smith changed her name to Daisy Renton, Gerald interrupts with a "What?", This creates tension for the audience as they are left wondering how he is involved and how he knows the girl.
More tension is created as a silent pause is created when Gerald pours himself a drink. The Inspector asks, "Where is your father, Miss Birling?" The audience wonder what is wanted with him now, and are still asking questions about Gerald. When the Inspector is off stage, Mr. Birling, Sheila and Gerald begin to talk. Gerald denies knowing the girl and Sheila says, "Oh don't be stupid. We haven't much time," this creates the impression that everything is in a hurry and that something is going to happen very soon. Priestly uses foreboding throughout the play to help produce tension. When Sheila says to her mother, "I'm afraid you'll say something or do something that you'll be sorry for afterwards;" this produces tension for the audience, as Sheila seems to know and understand what is coming.
At the end of act 2, Priestly through the character of the Inspector begins to get his own political message across. The Inspector makes the comment to Mr. Birling, "Public men, have responsibilities as well as privileges." Here the responsibilities spoken of are the poorer members of society, people like Eva Smith, this creates tension, as we do not know how Mr.Birling will respond to this.
Finally I am going to look at the end of the play and how it sums up Priestley’s social message. At the end of the play, the Birlings begin to question whether the Inspector was actually a real Inspector at all as they refuse to believe that a real police Inspector would speak to them in the way which the character of the Inspector does in the play. Suspicion grows and they begin to think. Birling feels that if the visitor was not an Inspector after all then they are all off the hook, as he tells Sheila, “it matters a devil of a lot. Makes all the difference." Sheila is now beginning to see what socialism means and disagrees with this. "But don't you see, if all that's come out tonight is true, then it doesn't matter who it was who made us confess." However Gerald then has the idea of ringing the hospital to see if a girl has committed suicide, but he has been told that, "They haven't had a suicide for months." This lifts the tension from Birling, who says to Sheila, "The whole things different now. Come, come, you can see that, can't you?" but Sheila realises that everything is not different and that they have still done terrible things, "It frightens me the way you talk. You’re pretending everything's just as it was before." - This is when the Birlings receive a nasty shock. A phone call from the police saying that a girl has just died, after swallowing disinfectant and that they are sending an Inspector over to the house.
The capitalists have refused to learn the lesson which the character of the Inspector has tried so hard to teach them and Because of this, they must start to learn all over again.
In conclusion, the main outline or contrast of the story line is the ending of the play. Dramatic irony is used when the telephone rings and there is a moment’s complete silence. This has the audiences thinking and shocked, as they had no idea. Priestly uses many different techniques to create tension throughout the whole play and also silence and pauses are very important in the creation of tension as many people are at the edge of their seats wanting to know what happens next in the play. Throughout this essay Priestley is trying to get the point across that we don’t only look after ourselves, but we look after each other and help each other, whereas this is still relevant today as we have to be socially responsible. “We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other”.
