A further interpretation is that Goole can be seen to represent a ghost symbolising, for example, the ghost of repression. He makes the Birlings realise that the working classes are treated poorly and have many less rights than the upper classes. He also shows the Birlings how by treating Eva like a working class girl, badly, could have been one in a chain of events that lead Eva to commit suicide. Goole says ‘What happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards, may have driven her to suicide.’ Goole can also be interpreted as the ghost of the working classes, he tries to make the Birlings see that there is no shame in being a working class citizen and that just because someone is working class doesn’t mean they live an unhappy and miserable life. Goole tries to show the Birlings this view by saying ‘A girl died tonight, a pretty, lively sort of girl, who never did anybody any harm.’
It is obvious that from showing the Birlings that working classes are still humans and are not worthless, which is what the Birlings originally thought of them, that they now feel guilty for what they have done. After finding out that she is partly to blame for Eva’s death by getting her sacked from her only steady job, Sheila says ‘Yes, but it didn’t seem to be anything very terrible at the time. Don’t you understand? And if I could help her now, I would.’
Sheila had always shown some socialist views even before the inspector has really made her feel guilty, she says ‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.’ Although Sheila’s father is a capitalist, Sheila shows a moral conscience. She realises that the workers are not just cheap labour and they are real people with feelings, which is not a view we would expect her father to have. This indicates that Sheila has some socialist views although she did get Eva sacked in the first place so she still believes in treating the lower classes with less respect, like her father.
An alternative idea is that Goole can be seen as a time traveller. By Priestley using this idea, it helps him to put his views into the play by showing that people need to be aware of what’s going on. Before the inspector spoke the Birlings, they seemed oblivious to lives of working class people or at least thought that their lives shouldn’t be taken much notice of. Gerald compliments the cook and Mrs Birlings response to this is ‘ Your not supposed to say such things.’ This shows her snobbish attitude towards working class people, she believed that staff should not be thanked. This attitude was changed after Goole had spoken to the family. When Eric has found out that Sheila had got Eva sacked from Millwards he says ‘My God, it’s a bit think, when you come to think of it.’ This implies that he thinks that what she has done is harsh. In response to this, Sheila says ‘ Oh shut up Eric. I know, I know. It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that and I shall never do it again to anybody.’
By the inspector being a time traveller he shows that people need to be aware of the changes in the world. Maybe at one point, the attitude of most people was very capitalist, but times must have changed and people must have started to see a more socialist point of view but the Birlings hadn’t until Goole visited them.
There is strong evidence that the inspector is a time traveller found at the end of the play. The inspector had told the family that Eva Smith had died but we later find out that she died after the inspector had told them. There is a chance that Goole had time travelled to the future and seen Eva die and then travelled back and told the Birlings to make them feel guilty and change their opinions on the working class.
Another idea of time travel is indicated because the Birlings didn’t expect war and thought modern technology was going very well but then the titanic sunk and the war did happen. Mr Birling said that the Titanic was ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’ The idea of the time traveller is meant to show them that life is uncertain. It is meant to teach them that they need to take the consequences with their actions and make changes to avoid mistakes again. From the play we get the impression that this time traveller strategy has worked on Sheila, she will probably treat working class people better that she has before, she says to Mr Birling, ‘The point is, you don’t seem to have learnt anything.’ This implies that Sheila has learnt that working classes deserve respect as well as upper classes.
Also, Goole can be seen as an ‘embodiment of a ‘collective moral conscience’. Evidence for this is found where Goole shows the family a photograph of Eva one at a time. What is the reason for the inspector showing the photographs to the family 1 member at a time? Could he be showing different photographs of different girls? Gerald says ‘How do you know it’s the same photograph?’ This implies that Goole is not just focusing on one girl but the whole of the working class community. The girl referred to as Eva Smith is also known as Daisy Renton. This is another reason for the audience to believe the play is about the whole of the working class and not just Eva Smith. Goole is representing all repressed, unfairly treated, minority groups of people. The name Eva Smith is used to represent all the working classes maybe because Smith is a common name and working class people are not a small population although they are treated as a minority. Goole is the moral consciences seeking justice for all these people.
There are many aspects of Inspector Goole for the audience to consider. It is possible for Goole to represent all of the above interpretations but does it really matter which one he is? At the end of the play, Goole achieves his goal of making the Birlings think about their actions and consequences. The play starts were it finishes, with the police on the way – have the Birlings learnt from their mistakes? Will they act differently? Will they take responsibility for their actions? Goole may have got the Birlings to think about what the have done, but is that enough to change the whole attitude of a strong capitalist family to a family who takes responsibility for their actions? In my opinion, I think Sheila will take responsibility, as at the end of the play she seems to be feeling most guilty out of the whole family. She says ‘ but you forgetting on thing I still cant forget. Everything we said had happened really happened, if it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done.’ This shows Sheila is realising what the consequences of her actions are and she feels guilty for them.
Weather the Bilings change or not is irrelevant in my opinion. I think this play was written to get the audience to think. The Birlings are a made up family, it doesn’t matter if they change or not, but the audience are real. Priestley's main objective when writing this book was to make a real difference in the real world when it comes to class differences.
Considering the time when this play was written, I believe it would have received negative feed back. In 1945, there majority of the population was capitalist, they ruled the community. For someone to write a play supporting socialist views would appear as an insult to the majority of people. Although, I think this play would have made people think and would have had a bigger effect on people back in 1945 then it does now as we live under a moderate labour government.
My personal favourite interpretation on Goole is that he represents a ghost. Not only does this seem like the most logical interpretation, as the inspector seems to know everything and be omniscient but at the end of the play when Gerald phones up the police station to see if Inspector Goole really exists, he spells his name out G-O-O-L-E emphasising the spelling of it. Yet if it was spelt differently but keeping the same pronunciation, ghoul, this is a type of ghost. Although all the interpretations of Goole are feasible.
Esther Bainbridge