The only physical impression you get of the Inspector is massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. Also he grows and remains solid when each of the other characters break down. The Inspector demonstrates his views of how people’s actions are responsible for how they affect the lives of others. He sees the world as a community where everyone should be helping each other (socialism). Because the character of the Inspector is always strong it also shows that Priestley views are strong, and that his opinion is right.
The way Priestley gets the audience to take his side is to prove the Birling family wrong. For example, in the play, Mr. Birling says in page 7, “Titanic, she sails next week, forty six thousand eight hundred tons, New York in five days, and every luxury, and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”. This is where the audience of 1945 takes Priestley’s side, because on April 14th 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg, sank and fifteen hundred people died. This makes Mr. Birling look like a complete fool.
Another way Priestley gets the audience to take his side completely, is when Mr. Birling says in page seven “And I say there isn’t a chance of war”, he also says in page 7 “there’ll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere – except of course Russia, which will always be behind naturally.” This is where the modern audience of today and the audience of 1945 know the First World War began; in 1918 the First World War ended leaving ten million dead. Then in 1939 the Second World War starts, a mass killing on a scale larger than that of the First World War, 55 million people dead, 6 million Jewish people killed in concentration camps. Because these events have a significant effect on Priestley’s play and they are important to consider when reading the script and thinking about the themes the play discusses it makes Mr. Birling look like a complete idiot. Because the play is written in 1945, but set in 1912, this affects the audience’s perceptions of certain characters and ideas.
The Inspector’s entrance also has a very big effect in the script, because of the point of disruption in which is told his arrival has come. The Inspector’s disruption happens when Mr. Birling says, “You’d think everybody has to look after everybody else”, Birling is disrupted in the middle of his next sentence, when a ring is heard at the door and the Inspector arrives, to give, in effect, the author’s reply. This reply is eventually stated quite explicitly, after the Inspector has shown that everybody in the Birling family is involved in the death of Eva Smith. The Inspector’s speech in Page 56 about millions of Eva Smiths also is the last speech that proves to show the Inspector really isn’t an Inspector. The Inspector warning is obviously meant to refer not merely to the members of the Birling family but to the whole of society in the Europe of 1912 and moving unaware toward the “fire, blood & anguish” of the 1914-18 war. The fire, blood and anguish also give a sign of hell. This also allows the audience to think that he is a soul who knows what is to come in the afterlife.
Another important theme in the script is social responsibility. With great status and money, comes great responsibility, in the case of the family’s responsibility for Eva.
The major importance in the script is the characters and how they change throughout the play. Sheila and Eric are the only two characters who admit to the truth, and they are a sign of hope at the end. The character of Gerald is the nicest of all, because he treats Eva Smith (also known as Daisy Renton at the time in the script), because he stops her from being taken away by a drunk, who most like suggesting Eva Smith is a prostitute. Also Gerald treats Eva Smith with value, pays for accommodation, finds out she’s hungry and pays for her. He feels pity for her and she feels grateful, so they start a illicit relationship.
Because of the Inspector’s stubbornness, and strict discipline, he makes an impression on young ones. Mrs. Birling’s character is very uproarious to look at, because half of the time, she is in her own world. For example, in page 30, Sheila tries to convince her mum, that somehow she is definitely part of the death of Eva Smith and Mrs. Birling says “You seem to have made a great impression on this child, Inspector”. Mrs. Birling is shown as if she thinks Sheila is a child, when she is not. One way to prove that she is no child is that Sheila is engaged.
The family status of Mrs. Birling is shown stronger than Mr. Birling. This is because Mrs. Birling is from an old money family. This status also affects the way Mrs. Birling treats Edna and Eva. Mrs. Birling shows no respect for people with low status and no money. Because the character of Eva is not shown, it gives the effect on the audience, that she is not real. Priestley also shows that Charity is also corrupt and run by the rich, when Mrs. Birling disregards Eva at the time when she needs money.
Forgiveness is the last sign shown at the end of the book, when the Inspector offers the family a second chance when he leaves. Because they believe that the character of Eva is not real, the effect on the end implies the Inspector was a ghost giving a sign to the Birling family.
Priestley in this script shows that an action can affect a person’s life in a major way, and explains socialism is very important.
Sufyan Mussood
