Priestley describes the Inspector as ‘need not being a big man but he creates an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’ this symbolises that he is an important figure in the play and not someone to be messed with. ‘Dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period. He speaks carefully, weightily…’ The fact that is he is dressed in a ‘darkish suite of the period’ gives us no clue to what social class he belongs to, we can only guess that he is of middle to middle-higher status, this could also be a deliberate act on the part of Priestley, to show that the Inspector abstains from social classing but also makes the inspector seem more intense and mysterious, drawing the readers attention in. His 'disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking' gives the impression that he sees through surface appearances to the real person beneath. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtless actions of each of the characters and their treatment of the young girl. 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. He works methodically through the characters taking them one at a time, partly because he is aware that 'otherwise, there's a muddle' and partly because he realises that the other characters are all quick to defend each other, or to call upon outside help from characters such as Colonel Roberts by Mr Birling, in order to avoid accepting the consequences of his selfish and tight-fisted actions. Even the Inspectors name, Goole, adds dramatic interest, as Goole could very well be mistaken for ghoul, meaning ‘evil spirit’ and this is exactly what the Inspector is to the Birling family, he is an evil spirit that haunts and confronts the family until they are forced to admit the truth that they already know deep down. Even the stage directions in the beginning of the play add a powerful sense of atmosphere ‘pink until the Inspector arrives and then it should be brighter and harder’. The pink atmosphere highlights the families rose tinted view of the world from their ‘dolls house’, the white atmosphere the Inspector brings with him symbolises truth and the way nobody can hide from it, the light hits all corners of the room with out exception just like truth hits all members and guests of the house.
The Inspector uses a photograph of the girl that he found amongst her things to trigger the characters memory of the girl. He uses this photograph to create tension between the characters as he controls who is allowed to see the picture and who is not. Mr Birling for instance is allowed to see the photograph however Eric and Gerald are excluded from seeing the photograph which causes Gerald to become agitated,
‘Inspector takes a photograph, about postcard size, out of his pocket and goes to Birling. Both Gerald and Eric rise to have alook at the photograph, but the inspector interposes himself between them and the photograph. They are surprised and rather annoyed. Birling stares hard, and with recognition, at the photograph, which the Inspector replaces in his pocket.’
Gerald: (showing annoyance) ‘Any particular reason why I shouldn’t see this girls photograph, Inspector?’
Inspector: (coolly, looking hard at him) There might be.
Eric: And the same applies to me, I suppose?
Inspector: Yes.
Gerald: I can’t imagine what it could be.
This causes Mr Birling to remember the girl and how and why he dismissed her from his factory but also causes tension as Gerald and Eric begin to get annoyed by the Inspectors investigation tactics and the way they are being pushed out and ignored. Later when Sheila (Mr Birling daughter) enters the room, the Inspector begins to investigate Sheila’s part in the girl’s suicide and shows her the picture.
‘If you’ll come over here, ill show you. He moves nearer the light and she crosses to him. He produces the photograph. She looks at it closely, recognizes it with a little cry, gives a half stifled sob, and then runs out’
This outburst from Sheila causes tension and curiosity levels to rise once again as the audience and characters begin to wonder what part Sheila has to play in the girl’s death.
Birling: ‘What’s the matter with her?
Eric: ‘She recognized her from the photograph, didn’t she?’
Mr Birling then begins to get angry that the Inspector has upset his daughter and the Inspector in his usual cool and held back tone denies upsetting her. This outburst of anger after Sheila’s outburst draws the reader further into the family and the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death.
Birling: (angrily) ‘Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?
Inspector: ‘I didn’t do it. She’s upsetting herself.’
Birling: ‘Well-why-why?’
Inspector: ‘I don’t know-yet. That’s something I have to find out.’
Birling: (still angrily) ‘Well- if you don’t mind- I’ll find out first’
The outburst from Sheila and the anger that the Inspector has upset Sheila only fuels Gerald’s annoyance that he has been excluded from seeing this photograph. It also increases the audients curiosity about what this photograph shows and what and who else will turn out to have link with the girl’s death.
Gerald: ‘Id like to have a look at that photograph now, Inspector.’
Inspector: ‘All in good time’
Gerald: ‘I don’t see why-‘
Inspector: (cutting in massively): you herd what I said before, Mr Croft. …’
The Inspectors tone, secretiveness over the photograph and the way he has disturbed their little party, topped with the amount of alcohol Eric has drunk makes Eric suddenly outburst with:
Eric: (suddenly bursting out): ‘Look here, I’ve had enough of this.’
Inspector: (dryly) ‘I dare say you have’
Eric: )uneasily) ‘I’ sorry- but you see- we were having a little party- and I’ve had a few drinks, including rather a lot of champagne- and ive got a headache- and as I’m only in the way here- I think id better turn in.
Inspector: And I think you’d better stay here.’
This shocks Eric as he has had quite enough of the Inspectors investigation, in addition with the amount he has drunk and the fact that he has been excluded from seeing the photograph making him and the audience think that he is nothing to do with this girl and her death. So the use of the photograph in the Inspectors investigation has aided in the remembrance of the girl, added to the tension with the excluding of some characters from seeing the photograph, resulting in anger, an outburst of tears and upset from Sheila and an added atmosphere of unease when Eric is told he is need ed in the investigation even though he has not been allowed to see the photograph. Towards the end of the play, when Mrs Birling enters to see what is going on he admits that
Inspector: ‘No it wasn’t necessary. And I thought it better not to’
When talking about the showing of the photograph to Gerald, yet insists that Mrs Birling must see the photograph.
Mrs Birling: ‘You have a photograph of this girl?’
Inspector: ‘Yes. I think you’d better look at it.’
Mrs Birling: ‘I don’t see any particular reason why I should-’
Inspector: ‘Probably not. But you’d better look at it’
This adds to the tension and makes the audience think that not only is Mr Birling, Sheila and Gerald involved in this girls life but maybe Mrs Birling is too. At first Mrs Birling denies knowing the girl and the Inspector accuses her of lying, causing an uprising of anger from Mr Birling that the Inspector should insult his wife in such a way.
Inspector: ‘Your not telling the truth.’
Mrs Birling: ‘I beg your pardon!’
Birling: (angrily to Inspector) ‘Look here, I’m not going to have this, Inspector. You’ll apologise at once.’
The use of the photograph is a clever one, it aids Mr and Mrs Birling in remembering the girl, creates tension and anger between characters that aren’t allowed to see the photograph, causes Sheila to run off upset and distressed and anger that the inspector has upset her and then later anger when Mrs Birling tries to lie about recognising the girl.
The Inspector also uses graphic detail as a shock tactic to shock the Birlings and Gerald into admitting their guilt and their involvement in the girls suicide. From the very first moment the Inspector enters the Birling house, he puts this tactic into action. After first introducing himself he reveals the shocking revelation that a young girl has just died,
Inspector: ‘Id like some information, if you don’t mind, Mr Birling. Two hours ago a young woman died in the Infirmary. She’d been taken there this afternoon because she’d swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her inside out of course’
This shocks Mr Birling instantly
Mr Birling: ‘(involuntarily) My God!’
Inspector: ‘Yes, she was in great agony. They did everything they could for her at the infirmary, but she died, suicide of course’
This revelation adds dramatic tension and draws the reader in. What happened? Why? What has this got to do with the Birling family? Are all questions the audience will be asking themselves. Priestley has done this purposely, he could have just said, ‘Id like some information, if you don’t mind Mr Birling. A young girl has died tonight, suicide, and I am here to find out why’ but instead he adds heavy description of the ‘strong’ disinfectant that she drank, which ‘burn her inside out’. He could have course stopped there, but instead carried on to describe the great agony in which she died and how nothing could be done for her. This immediately makes the audience feel compassion for the dead girl and makes the tension in the Birling house change from the happy, content atmosphere of the party to one of nervous unease, as Mr Birling is desperate to avoid a scandal and lose his knighthood. Mr Birling feels sorry for the girl but cannot wait to get rid of the Inspector and the possibility that his family might have been involved.
Birling: (rather impatiently) ‘Yes, yes. Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you should come here Inspector-’
This detailed description has instantly put Mr Birling on edge. Then later when Sheila enters the room and after a short argument with Birling about whether Sheila needs to be present, the Inspector tells Sheila,
Inspector: (impressively) ‘I’m a police inspector, Miss Birling. This afternoon a young woman drank some disinfectant, and died, after several hours of agony, tonight in the Infirmary’
He says this in such a way as to make a firm impression on the young and very impressionable Sheila, stating that she ‘dies after several hours of agony’. This unnecessary description shocks Sheila, Sheila: ‘Oh-how horrible! Was it an accident?’ and makes it easier for him to question her. Later when he faces the cold-hearted Mrs Birling he applies this use of graphic detail to try and break down the wall Mrs Birling has built between herself (the upper-classes) and the girl (the middle-lower classes).
Inspector: ‘That doesn’t make it any less yours. She came to you for help, at a time when no woman could have needed it more. And you not only refused it yourself but saw to it that others refused it too. She was here alone, friendless, almost penniless, desperate. She needed not only money but advice, sympathy, friendliness. You’ve had children. You must have known what she was feeling. And you slammed the door in her face’
Words such as alone, penniless, desperate, and slammed the door in her face, add to the sense of sympathy and atmosphere and soon even the other characters are swayed into feeling sorry for the girl,
Sheila: (with feeling) ‘Mother, I think it was cruel and vile’
Mr Birling: (dubiously) ‘I must say, Sybil, that when this comes out at the inquest, it isn’t going to do us much good?’
But Mrs Birling is quick to defend herself.
Mrs Birling: (agitated) ‘Oh, stop it, both of you. And please remember before you start accusing me of anything again that it wasn’t I who had her turned out of her employment- which probably began it all?’
The Inspector later returns to his use of shock tactics when he is interrogating Eric. He reveals to Eric how his mother turned away the girl, thus killing her own grandchild and Eric’s child, this enrages Eric and causes him to turn on his mother and become threatening.
Inspector: (with calm authority) ‘I’ll tell you. She went to your mother’s committee for help, after she’d done with you. Your mother refused that help.
Eric: (nearly at breaking point) ‘Then-you killed her. She came to you to protect me- and you turned her away-yes, and you killed her-and the child she’d have had too-my child-your own grandchild-you killed them both-damn you, damn you-’
Mrs Birling: (very distressed now) ‘No-Eric-please-I didn’t know- I didn’t understand-’
Eric: (almost threatening her) ‘You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried-you-’
Sheila: (frightened) ‘Eric, don’t-don’t-’
Birling: (furious, intervening) ‘Why, you hysterical young fool- get back- or I’ll-’
Inspector: (taking charge, masterfully) ‘Stop!’
This revelation to Eric that his mother could have saved the girl and his child enrages Eric causing him to turn on his mother, this shocks the other characters who try to intervene and stop Eric from doing or saying something stupid. Mr Birling becomes furious that Eric is almost threatening his mother and in turn threatens to get violent with Eric. The Inspector’s shock tactic here results in anger and forces the characters to turn on one another thus making it easier for him to question them and make them see what they have each done wrong, as they no longer have the other characters to hide behind.
A more subtle use of shock tactic by the Inspector is when back in the beginning of the play, the Inspector mentions the girl’s, Eva Smiths, name change which startles Gerald who immediately asks Sheila for a drink, giving away that he knew the girl.
Inspector: …Now she had to try something else. So she changed her name to Daisy Renton-’
Gerald: (startled) ‘What?’
Inspector: (steadily) ‘I said she changed her name to Daisy Renton.
Gerald: (pulling himself together) ‘D’you mind if I give myself a drink, Sheila?’
Sheila merely nods. ‘Well Gerald?’
Gerald: (trying to smile) ‘Well what, Sheila?’
Sheila: How did you come to know this girl- Eva Smith?’
Gerald: ‘I didn’t’
Sheila: ‘Daisy Renton then- it’s the same thing.’
Gerald: ‘Why should I have known her?’
Sheila: ‘oh don’t be stupid. We haven’t much time. You gave yourself away as soon as he mentioned her other name.’
The Inspectors use of shock tactic through out the play helps him a great deal. It is the use of shock tactic of the girls name change that reveals that Gerald knew the girl, the shocking revelation to Eric that his mother turned away the girl, causes anger and for members of the family to turn against each other making it easy for him to question them. The Inspectors uses graphic detail to guilt Mrs Birling into admitting she knew the girl and to break down the wall she had built between herself and the girl, making it easier for him to try to teach her how she should have behaved towards the girl. Lastly right at the beginning of the play, when the Inspector first arrives he uses such graphic detail of the girl’s death, that it shocks the characters and makes it easier for him to investigate them for the rest of the play.
The Inspectors whole approach to the investigation is totally unorthodox; he investigates each character one at a time and more or less in chronological order of what happened to the girl, whereas a normal investigation would work backwards from the events that took place immediately before the girl’s suicide. The way he treats the other characters is interesting as well, he isn’t afraid to contradict or be rude to them even though they are his social superiors. He asks blunt and directly to the point questions and doesn’t hesitate to interrupt or challenge what the Birlings and Gerald are saying,
Gerald: ‘I don’t see why-’
Inspector: (cutting in massively) ‘You herd what I said before, Mr Croft. One line of inquiry at a time. Otherwise we’ll all be talking at once and wont know where we are. If you’ve anything to tell me, you’ll have the opportunity of doing it soon.’
Even though the Inspector says that he is new to Brumley, he appears to know a lot about the other characters and the area and a lot more than he could simply have gained from Eva Smiths’ diary.
The Inspector creates a lot of suspense by keeping certain characters waiting and not explaining to them that he intends to interview each of them separately, i.e. Gerald and Eric who are excluded from seeing the photograph, and suggesting that there might be reasons why they should not see the photograph and stopping Eric from going to bed as
Inspector: ‘It might be less trouble. If you turn in, you might have to turn out again soon’
He then doesn’t go on to explain why he might want to talk to Eric later but carries on with his investigation creating tension and curiosity. Later in the beginning of Act 2. though Mr Birling becomes angry that the Inspector would not let Eric go to bed and asks him to bring Eric’s interview forward and the Inspector tells him that Eric must wait his turn. Any normal investigation might have brought Eric’s interview forward to save time in the long run and to let the child go to bed, but not the Inspector.
The Inspector even requests that Gerald stay as he is marrying Sheila yet does not explain why, this increases tension and makes the audience think that Sheila has done something that Gerald should know about.
Inspector: ‘I see. Mr Croft is going to marry Miss Sheila Birling?’
Gerald: (smiling) ‘I hope so.’
Inspector: (gravely) ‘Then I’d prefer you to stay’
Gerald: (surprised) ‘oh- all right.’
In the beginning when the Inspector first arrives he confirms that Mr Birling is not the only person he has come to interview prompts the other characters to become worried and anxious.
Birling: ‘You didn’t just come here to see me, then?’
Inspector: ‘No.’
‘The other four exchange bewildered and perturbed glances.’
At the end of Act 2. Eric leaves the house with out the Inspectors permission and the inspector insists that Eric is needed and if he’s not back soon he’ll ‘have to go and find him’ the stage directions tell us that at this, ‘Birling and Mrs Birling exchange bewildered and rather frightened glances’. By not explaining why Eric is so badly needed there he increases the tension and creates and worried atmosphere between the other characters.
The Inspectors role in this play is one of a moral messenger. He is Priestley’s mouth piece to speak to the audience and convince them to change for the better and not revert to the old ways. Although Eric is the only character to commit an actually criminal offence it is the other characters, who it could be said have committed the 7 deadly sins (Mrs Birling, pride, Mr Birling, greed, Sheila, envy) who the Inspector is more interested in. He focuses on moral wrongs rather than legally wrong crimes and refers to responsibility and guilt sharing rather than law-breaking and prosecution. He doesn’t even take notes or make an arrangement to see Eric again, who has committed a crime. However 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 her children and the respectability of her family shattered by Eric and Eric is revealed before his short sighted parents as a spoilt and inadequate young man. In each case the punishment is a consequence of their own behaviour it is not the Inspector himself that brigs about their punishment. The Inspectors main concern is to hear them confess and except at least some of the responsibility for the girl’s death.
Inspector: (taking charge, masterfully) ‘Stop! And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don’t need to know anymore. Neither do you. This girl killed herself- and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it. (he looks from one to the other of them carefully). But then I don’t think you ever will. Remember what you did, Mrs Birling. You turned her away when she most needed your help. You refused her even the pitiable little bit of organized charity you had in your power to grant her. Remember what you did-’
…
Inspector: ‘Just used for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person. No, you won’t forget. (He looks at Sheila) ‘You helped-but didn’t start it. (Rather savagely to Birling)You started it. She wanted twenty-five shillings a week instead of twenty-two and sixpence. You made her pay a heavy price for that. And she’ll make you pay an even heavier price still.’ ‘No, I don’t think any of you will forget. Nor that young man Croft, though he at least had some affection for her and made her happy for a time. Well Eva Smiths gone. You cant do her anymore harm. And you can’t do her any good now either. You cant even say ‘I’m sorry Eva Smith’. ‘But just remember this. One Eva Smiths has gone- but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths 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.’
After delivering his moral message and trying to get the characters to change , the Inspector leaves, with no mention of returning or of bringing any criminal charges against Eric who has broken the law. But in fact if it is the Inspectors job to make the characters reframe from their selfish and morally wrong views then he has failed in this job as maybe only two of the characters, Sheila and Eric, who begin to change their attitudes, were as Mr & Mrs Birling and Gerald quickly lapse back into their old attitudes and ways.
The Inspector abrupt departure, like his sudden arrival leaves the characters feeling shocked and stunned at what has just happened and in a n almost dream like state, wondering if it was real. This is probably why some (not all) of the characters are so quick to jump at the idea that it was all a trick and the Inspector was not an inspector.
Through-out the play the Inspector adds to the tension and atmosphere. His arrival just as Mr Birling has made his (morally wrong) opinions known; this right from the start of the play supplies the audience with a dramatic irony that focuses their interests on the play and the characters. Even the atmosphere changes when the Inspector arrives, the light-hearted, happy diner party atmosphere disappears and is replaced with a harsh, truthful atmosphere. His looks and manner towards the other characters, creates tension as he isn’t afraid to contradict or be rude to them even though they are his social superiors. He is or need not be a small man but however creates an impression of massiveness and of purposefulness; this comes across in the whole atmosphere he creates. He uses many tactics such as the photograph and graphically detailed descriptions to shock both the audiences and the characters. By shocking the audience he can best get across his moral warning and by shocking the other characters he can best get them to open up to him and admit their wrongs. The Inspectors overall approach to the investigation is totally irregular, which creates dramatic interest and in some points emotional conflicts which create tension and keep the audiences attention. But even after he has left, he is still creating interest and tension as the characters try to decide whether or not he was a real inspector and in fact whether or not he was actually real.
