“Birling: But take my word for it, you youngsters – and I’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience – that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and –
We hear the sharp ring of a front door bell. Birling stops to listen.”
Mr Birling has just finished lecturing about how people should only care about themselves and those close to him when the doorbell rings and the Inspector has arrived. The author has made him arrive at this point as it is a very significant point in the play and it is ironic that it would be the open-minded Inspector who interrupts.
The Inspector is an extremely important character as he carries the message of the play, plus he represents everything the author wants us to know, in essence Inspector Goole is J.B. Priestley. He is J.B. Priestley’s vehicle for ideas.
As the writer is using Inspector Goole to express his ideas about society this makes him the most powerful character in the play, even more than Mr Birling. He controls everyone else in the play and takes over their beliefs, attitudes and characters, working steadily through his plan to make them realise what they had done to Eva Smith. The Inspector is powerful simply by walking in and taking command of them without any questions asked. He prises open their lives and their stories and no one questions him or thinks twice about who he is. He draws the Birlings and Gerald out of their “comfort zone” until they have nothing else to disguise themselves with but the truth. The Inspector’s arrival in Act One is very significant as he interrupts the Birlings celebrations of Shelia and Gerald’s engagement. After this arrival it is a complete reversal from a happy smiling family, to one that is being torn apart with guilt.
At the very beginning of the Inspector’s entrance the author uses words to describe him that gives an impression of authority and of the utmost importance.
“He creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.” Inspector Goole had only just stepped into the room yet already he had everyone very wary of him and perhaps even scared. Inspector Goole gets the longest and most detailed introduction out of all of the characters which again suggests that he is the most important and one that you may want to know most about as he is so intriguing. The words the author uses to first describe him make you think of him as having a rather big aura surrounding him and being quite imposing over anyone else. He uses the word ‘purposefully’ to emphasise how he was only there for one purpose; to make the Birling’s feel guilty and to perhaps give them another chance to be better people towards others.
Inspector Goole is always in control of the Birlings although he does it quietly and subtly. He takes his time although he quite often interrupts Mr Birling but I believe this is just to be in control of everyone and to show them that he is, from now on, in charge of their conversations.
Birling: (rather impatiently) I don’t understand why you should come here, Inspector –
Inspector: (cutting through massively)
The stage directions used in this extract are quite unusual as although the word ‘massively’ is used to describe him interrupting, it is an odd phrase to be used. Inspector Goole waits for them to grow impatient before he answers which would make them more uncomfortable, especially with a heavy silence surrounding them.
“The Inspector is watching Birling, and now Birling notices him.”
This shows how he is in control because as soon as he looks at someone they notice him and feel that they should answer or acknowledge him in some way, it is impossible for any of the characters to simply ignore him.
In Act 1 on both page 12 and 21 he is very much in command and also quite mysterious when he will only show one person at a time a photograph of Eva Smith. He gets in the way of people when they try and look at a photograph, at the end we know this is because they are all of different girls but at the time it shows the Inspector manipulating the Birlings into what he wants them to do. It also makes it seem as though he has a plan because he will only show one person at a time. He disguises his efforts by saying that it is the way he likes to work.
Mr Birling and Inspector Goole are always talking back at each other and Mr Birling is trying to intimidate the Inspector with his social superiority and this is shown quite clearly throughout the play but especially in Act One.
“Birling: Perhaps I ought to explain first that this is Mr Gerald Croft – the son of Sir George Croft – you know, Crofts Limited.
Inspector: Mr Gerald Croft, eh? Mr Croft is going to marry Miss Sheila Birling?
Gerald: (smiling) I hope so.
Inspector: (gravely) Then I’d prefer you to stay.”
Mr Birling thinks that by telling the Inspector who Gerald is he will intimidate him and so the Inspector may be more polite to them, but this is not the case. Inspector Goole manages to get one back at Mr Birling by not being bothered by Gerald’s presence and even gets quite serious when he finds out who he is. Mr Birling tries to show his superiority to the Inspector once again by talking about the Police Force he has supposedly transferred to.
“Birling: How do you get on with our Chief Constable?
Inspector: I don’t see much of him.
Birling: Perhaps I ought to warn you he’s an old friend of mine. We play golf together sometimes.
Inspector: (dryly) I don’t play golf.”
Inspector Goole very easily waves away Mr Birling’s efforts to try and regain control of the situation by making the Inspector less comfortable by mentioning the Inspector’s boss. But by saying that he knows him to scare the Inspector does not affect the Inspector’s attitude and once again, Mr Birling fails.
Inspector Goole may be from the future and we get more of an idea of this when he is questioning the Birlings when he already seems to know all their answers.
“Gerald: We can’t help you there because we don’t know.
Inspector: (slowly) Are you sure you don’t know.
He looks at Gerald, then at Eric, then at Sheila.
Birling: Are you suggesting now that one of them knows something about this girl?
Inspector: Yes.”
Although this causes suspicion amongst the Birlings the Inspector only cares about getting them to see what is right and for them to realise that using their power and wealth against people is wrong. He is always suggesting and prompting the Birlings to confess themselves, without him having to say it all. He does not ask if they know but states that they might. Inspector Goole and Sheila are the characters that connect and bond the most, even though Sheila is the most suspicious of him. She is also the one that begins to realise he may not be who he says he is. She says: “Why – you fool – he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet.” It is at the end of Act One where Sheila begins to sense how much he knows and how mysterious he really is. She is concerned about her family and how much they will try and bend the truth even though Inspector Goole probably already knows what they all did to Eva Smith and this creates a dramatic effect in this position in the play.
The Inspector’s final speeches are extremely important and are a pivotal point in the play. This is one part in the play where he seems totally in control, especially of Mr Birling because this is also when he massively contradicts the ideas and attitudes of Mr Birling’s speech. He tells them that Eva Smith was not the only one, that there are more people in the world like her that they can help and be better people for. It is almost as if he is telling them how to continue their lives; he has huge authority over them as he knows so much at this point. His speech is also incredibly powerful which may make the Birlings more scared of him and feel his authority over them.
“And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.” These are the most powerful lines of the play and portray an image of people being kinder to each other, but if not, then their time will come when things will fall apart around them. He means that if men don’t learn that wealth is not everything then they will be taught it the hard way. These three words are extremely emotive, angry and forceful, and J.B. Priestley uses a rhetorical device of a grouping of three, to make a more enforced point.
J.B. Priestley is, in essence, the Inspector. He uses him to put his idea forward about how he thought society should be like and how people should treat others and because of this Inspector Goole is an extremely important and powerful character. It is important for the Inspector to seem mysterious because he is not really a proper character, perhaps just representing the Birlings’ consciences coming to life or ideas of how the world should have been. Also, because he has to deliver the message of the play, without him there would be no moral, or no story to tell.
