Inspector Goole has an impressive personality despite having an unimpressive statue. The Inspector doesn’t need to be a big man; he creates an air of confidence and purposefulness at once. He speaks carefully and has a habit of staring at the person he is about to speak to. Out of all the characters in the play, he makes the biggest impression on Sheila. The Inspector makes the family cringe under the pressure from him. In act one, Priestley wanted lighting to be soft and cosy when they where all around the dinning table. But when the Inspector arrives, the lighting should change from being soft and subtle to harsh and bright. In the book, Priestley’s stage directions are: “The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and it should be brighter and harder”. This is to show tension among everyone. It could suggest that he is unreal or ghost like. The lighting reflects the Inspectors presence of shock and unreal-ness. It is a contrast between before and after the Inspector arrived. “Goole” is a homophone of ghoul. This could mean that Priestley wants to suggest that the Inspector is a figment of imagination. The connotations of ghoul are ghost-like, unreal, scary and supernatural. These all describe the Inspector.
Throughout the play, the Inspector affects all the characters in one way or another. But the Inspector affects Sheila more noticeably than any other character. She has been drawn in by the Inspectors menacing words. Sheila has changed her attitude because before the Inspector arrives, she is acting spoilt and selfishly. When Gerald gives Sheila her engagement ring, she says: “oh it’s wonderful! Look-mummy-isn’t it a beauty! Oh-darling” this shows that she is thinking about her self and her family before she thinks about her husband to be. Her priorities are family and possessions first, then her husband to be. She also says “mummy”, this shows that she hasn’t grown up and she is still using childish terms. But when the Inspector arrives, her attitude changes from being caring and thoughtful. When the Inspector tells Sheila what happened, her reaction was: “Oh-how horrible! Was it an accident?” This shows that she cares about how others feel and wants to help and be involved. There is a strong contrast between Sheila and Mr Birling because his reaction was: “yes yes horrid business. But I don't understand why you should come here. Inspector?” Mr Birling doesn’t care about the girl or what happened to her. Mr Birling is being impatient and wants to rush it so his reputation doesn’t get damaged. He only cares about his status. Mr Birling’s views are capitalist so Priestley wants to make him look like a fool. He does this by making him look ignorant when he says: “the Germans don't want war.” The audience expects Sheila to behave in the same way as her father, selfishly. But she doesn’t, she becomes more mature and caring. She almost acts as if she was Eva’s friend. She also stands up to her father when she says: “These people aren’t cheap labour. Their people” These are socialist views so this has also made Mr Birling look ignorant. Sheila wants to protect the rights of others.
The Inspector affects one character more than the others, Sheila in act 2. The Inspector affects her so much that she starts to become like him. She starts to question Gerald: “When did you first get to know her? Was it after she left Milwards? ... Yes of course you were.” Sheila takes on the confidence and characteristics of the Inspector- curiosity and insight. When Sheila first hears about Gerald's affair, the audience expects her to cry, become upset, and very emotional. But she reacts extremely differently to that. Her reaction was of maturity and of understanding. Sheila acts as if she knew it was coming and had prepared for it. She also continues to talk, almost interrogate, Gerald: “Go on Gerald, don’t mind mother.” Sheila acts like she wants to know and understand what happened. The men want to protect her but she is now independent. She also says: “You were the fairy prince.” Sheila is being sarcastic and making Gerald feel guilty. She is being dismissive and very powerful because she doesn't want to waste time on him. Sheila also responds differently to her mother, Mrs Birling. She says: “Mother do stop before it’s too late.” She is warning her mother, trying to prevent her mother looking like a fool. Her understanding of the situation also increases as the evening has unfolded. Her compassion has become greater over the evening as well. Sheila has also gained ‘power’ off her parents who were controlling everything, especially her father.
In act 3 Sheila has changed even more than from act 2. In act 3 both Sheila and Eric admit responsibility, but both have admitted it slightly differently than each other. Sheila tries to educate parents and Gerald knows it doesn’t matter if the Inspector is faux or not, a girl still died with his baby inside her. Sheila and Eric have shown a permanent change in their personality and their beliefs. They are now both socialists. We can tell this because Eric says to Mr Birling: “You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble.” And then to Mrs Birling: “You killed her… my child- your own grandchild-you killed them both.” This shows that his parents haven’t taught him morals; this could be seen as condemning capitalists or just an ignorant son. It also shows that their relationship is breaking down. His parents spoilt him; they cut him off from the real world. They gave him too much money and freedom. We can also tell that Sheila has turned into a socialist because she says: “Don’t let’s start dodging and pretending now. Between us, we drove that girl to commit suicide.” This is when Sheila and Eric first realise that they still did terrible things, regardless of the Inspector being real or not. This is a contrast between them and their parents- the parents’ only care about appearance but Sheila and Eric actually care about what happened. Sheila also says: “It frightens me the way you talk, and I can’t listen to anymore of it.” She has realised that her parents are arrogant and doesn’t want to associate herself with them. She carries on saying: “Nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn.” Sheila is being sarcastic, Priestley’s message. His message was that if you don’t care about something, you won’t learn anything. This makes the audience have respect for them both. Sheila and Eric have different reasons to admit responsibility. Sheila only had Eva sacked, but Eric had a baby with her, he feels more responsible than anyone else because of this. The audience feels respect for Eric and Sheila for both admitting responsibility but they feel anger, pity for being so ignorant, and hatred for both Mr and Mrs Birling. But they do not know if the inspector is real or not. The audience is confused by this and therefore can’t judge him.
To conclude, the inspector has affected Sheila so much that she has become a socialist and has realised that her parents are arrogant. This has helped Priestley get his message across because he has shown that capitalists are ignorant, self centred and care more about their status than their family. But it has also shown that capitalists can change, but only in extreme circumstances.
