“I think you have done something terribly wrong –
and that you’re going to spend the rest of your life regretting it.”
By saying this he is trying to make Mrs Birling feel really bad, and make her regret her actions. The inspector has to be harder with Mr and Mrs Birling because they will not willingly admit responsibility and change their views. He says to Sheila:
“You’re partly to blame. Just as your father is.”
The inspector is basically making sure that Sheila knows she is partly to blame, and make her feel guilty. However, he is not so harsh on her because she has obviously learnt her lesson. To Eric, he says:
“Remember what you did… used her for the end of a stupid
drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person.”
He is trying to make Eric feel like he treated Eva like she wasn’t human, and didn’t have feelings, and make him understand just what he has done. And finally, to Gerald, Inspector Goole says:
“She went away – to be alone, to be quiet, to
remember all that had happened between you.”
The inspector is trying to make Gerald see that she had to go away because of how he treated her. He was wrong to cast her aside when it became inconvenient.
At various points in the play, Mr and Mrs Birling try to remind the inspector of how important they are in town. However, the inspector totally ignores their social class. An example of this is when Mrs Birling says:
“You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor
only two years ago and that he’s still a magistrate.”
In response to this the inspector the inspector says, “(imperturbable) Yes. Now what about Mr Birling?” The word ‘imperturbable’ shows that he does not care about their social status and is not affected by what she has said. The inspector will not be intimidated, and will carry on with the job as normal.
Also, the inspector is not prepared to listen to them quarrel and bicker between themselves. At one point when they are arguing the inspector cuts in and says, “And my trouble is – that I haven’t much time. You’ll be able to divide the responsibility between you when I’ve gone.” Shortly after this, they start bickering again, and the inspector takes charge, saying, “Stop! And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don’t need to know anymore. Neither do you.”
The inspector obviously hasn’t got any time for them when they quarrel and bicker, and is only interested in getting through to them what has happened.
During the inspector’s last speech, he says:
“We don’t live alone. We are members of one body.
We are responsible for each other.”
The inspector is obviously trying to disprove something that Mr Birling said shortly before the inspector arrived. Shortly before the inspector enters, Mr Birling gives a speech in which he says:
“a man has to make his own way – has to look
after himself – and his family too, of course,
when he has one – and so long as he does that
he wont come to much harm.”
This is the complete opposite to what the inspector is trying to get through in his last speech, and it seems obvious that this is what Inspector Goole is trying to disprove. There are other points in the play when the inspector puts himself on the side of the underdog, and shows that, if people are suffering, we are all responsible:
“I’ve thought that it would do us all a bit of good if
sometimes we tried to put ourselves in the place of these
young women counting their pennies in their
dingy little back bedrooms.”
He is determined to deliver his moral message.
“You see, we have to share something. If there’s
nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt.
These are perfect examples of when the inspector is pointing out that we are all responsible for each other.
There are certain factors that steer my thoughts into believing that the inspector isn’t just an ordinary inspector determined to hound his quarry. Others see him as a religious figure, not Christ, but a conscience. Or even just a hoaxer. I actually feel that the inspector is a conscience figure that has come to teach them all to take responsibility for others. At one point in the play Gerald questions whether he is just a ‘clever hoaxer’, but I actually feel that there is a hint of supernatural about Inspector Goole, and that he is trying to tell them what will happen if they do not learn from their mistakes.
One thing that suggests how strange the inspector is, is his time of arrival. The inspector arrives at the house shortly after Birling’s ‘every man for himself’ speech, and what seems strange is that the inspector’s last speech is directly disproving Birling’s speech. The inspector’s speech about being ‘members of one body’ is blatantly intended to contradict what Birling had said before he arrived, which seems a bit supernatural.
There are other things that seem supernatural about the inspector, such as the way he leaves, and especially, what he seems to already know. The inspector seems to know that if they don’t learn their lesson, they will pay a heavy price and the suicide will really happen. The inspector states that ‘if men will not learn their lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish.’ Not everyone does learn their lesson, and shortly after the inspector leaves they receive a phone call saying that a girl has committed suicide. The inspector seemed to know that this would happen. I actually feel that he already knows all of the details about the girl’s death, and the other characters involvement with her. It seems that he has foreseen the future.
Another thing that suggests that the inspector is not normal, is his name. ‘Goole’ sounds exactly like ‘ghoul’, which hints the supernatural.
When the inspector arrives at the scene, there are directions which describe his characteristics. The six phrases which I consider to be the most important for our understanding of him, are ‘massiveness’, ‘solidity’, ‘purposefulness’, speaking ‘carefully’ and ‘weightily’, and having a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking. For each of the characteristics, there is a part in the play where we see them in action. For example when he speaks carefully he says: “(rather slowly) – No, she didn’t exactly go on the streets.” He progresses in his won time and doesn’t give anything away.
He also looks hard at the person he addresses before speaking: “(coolly, looking hard at him) There might be.” This unnerves the family and heightens their feelings of guilt.
Each of the six words from the stage directions can be seen in the play, and I feel these are the most important for out understanding of him. We can see that it is not just what he says, but also his actions, which have an effect on the family.
J.B. Priestley uses a number of methods to make the character of the inspector have more impact on the audience. Lighting is one of these methods. The instructions for the lighting at the beginning of the play are:
“The lighting should be pink and intimate until the
inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder.”
Before the inspector arrives there is pink light – this shows a relaxed, intimate atmosphere. It is all very innocent, until the inspector arrives. Once the inspector arrives, the lighting becomes brighter and harder. This suddenly pressurises the atmosphere, giving the impression that there is nowhere to hide for the characters, and enforces the idea of a ‘truth room’, and all attention is now within this light. Having this brighter and harder light emphasises the inspector’s character and the tense atmosphere he is about to create. The truth is about to be revealed.
The whole action of the play takes place in a dining room. This helps to add to the drama, and significantly helps the inspector to dominate events. Being in the confinements of the dining room, the characters are under great pressure to confess, and all of the tension builds up in one small room. At one stage, Gerald leaves the house and has a walk around the street. He realises that this takes the pressure off him and enables him to think more clearly about the events. Once back with the other people, Gerald says:
“Well, you see, while I was out of the house I’d
time to cool off and think things out a little.”
This shows that it was hard to think straight whilst in the pressurised atmosphere that the inspector had created. But once out of that atmosphere, it was possible to think things over properly. All this shows that the setting adds to the drama, in this case putting immense pressure on the characters in a ‘nowhere to hide’ situation.
After Gerald has been able to think things over, he discovers that the inspector is not all he’s made up to be. Gerald says:
“A man comes here pretending to be a
police officer. It’s a hoax of some kind.”
It’s obvious that once Gerald was out of the pressure-cooker, he was able to figure out exactly what was going on, and come to a sensible conclusion about the inspector.
Timing also plays an important part in the play. The times the inspector arrives and leaves are very significant, as are the timing and order in which the inspector speaks to the characters. The inspector interviews Mrs Birling before Eric, and get her to say just how she feels about the whole situation, including her feelings for the man that Eva became involved with, which turns out to be Eric. Mrs Birling, says, “If the girls death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him.” Shortly after this the inspector talks to Eric, and it is revealed that the father of the child was him. The whole reason that the order is like this is because the audience can see Mrs Birling in a very awkward situation, which would please them because of the type of character that Mrs Birling is. We know that she needs to be taught a lesson.
There is only one storyline and one plot in this play, which gives no distractions. This enables the pace to stay fast throughout the play. This manages to keep the audience interested, and constantly wondering and thinking about the outcome. We are constantly on the edge of our seats, trying to guess what will happen next and how each of the characters are involved. We also begin to wonder how real Inspector Goole actually is.
Priestley also makes extensive use of irony. At the beginning of the play, Birling discusses his future position with Gerald:
“There’s a fair chance that I might find my way into the
next honours list. Just a knighthood, of course!”
The inspector’s arrival and purpose of his visit make Birling’s earlier statement ironic. After the inspector has seen the family about the incident, it’s quite certain that Birling will not be receiving his knighthood, especially if it gets into the media. Birling would lose respect and maybe even money due to the inspector’s news of the death, and the amount that the family had to do with it. Their reputations will be ruined.
I believe the statement, “He never like an ordinary police inspector” is true. The inspector is definitely not presented in an ‘ordinary’ way. I feel the inspector has been used to convey a moral message to the characters, and this is done successfully by J.B. Priestley. Some characters did learn from their mistakes, but since everyone did not change their approach to life, the death really had to happen, to make them pay the price. Because of his role, Inspector Goole can never be considered as ordinary.