What was the main role of the Inspector in an Inspector Calls?
The Inspector Calls is identified as a social play, by J.B Priestly who was concerned about the social system. Furthermore, he observed the class situation at this time and used it to inspire his play. In the play the story is set in 1912, just before the First World War, however in actual fact he had written it in 1945, at the end of the Second World War. The main causes for this class division was that the rich took no responsibility for the poor and instead used them to make higher profits, whilst at the same time paid for cheap labour and selling at extremely high prices. The inspector was deliberately positioned in the play to make people realise that if they didn't change the class and social stature, they would eventually pay the consequences through war. "In fire, blood and anguish."
Throughout the play, the Inspector is presented in many ways. This may depend on what he does, what he says, or the way he conducts himself in the presence of each person. He may be referred to as the social conscience, god, a time traveller, a friend, a relative of Eva smith, or a ghost. These characteristics represent the many aspects of the Inspector. He is a mysterious character, which the audience is made aware of from the start.
Firstly, his name is 'Goole,' which sounds like 'ghoul.' This gives us the impression that he might be a ghost or spirit. Additionally, he might appear to be the 'social conscience' of Gerald Croft and the Birlings, or he could perhaps be 'god.' This is for the reason that Priestly describes his physical appearance as making an 'impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.' Inspector Goole's manner of speaking is strange too, 'he speaks carefully, weightily and has the disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking'. The Inspector appears sounds and behaves in a different way to an ordinary Inspector. He may as well appear to be someone from the past or the future - a time traveller. This is because; it seems the Inspector is familiar with a quite a lot of personal details concerning Gerald and the Birlings. He seems to be aware of everything before anyone discloses any information to him. His peculiar ability of piercing people with his hard stare is altogether very alarming and uncomfortable. Furthermore, we can conclude from his behaviour and mysterious character, that he may be a close friend or relative of Eva Smith's. This is significant as he knows personal and private information on Eva; every account of her life, her feelings and her situation. The Inspector claims to have never met her. However some of the reasons direct us to become suspicious; this is exposed when he reveals Eva's situation, 'she wanted to end her life. She felt that she couldn't go on any longer.' These notify us, that the Inspector is aware of a lot more than he is letting on. This suggests to the audience that the Inspector had known Eva Smith.
J.B Priestley purposely put the Inspector in to a position where he could question and interrogate everyone. This is because he determined to use the Inspector to get the declaration of guilt out of Gerald Croft and the Birlings, in order to move the play along. He spoke to each of them in turn, but each was spoken to in a different manner from the previous. The Inspector starts with Mr. Birling. He makes an entrance when Mr. Birling say's 'a man has to make his own way - look after himself - and his own family too...' ...
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J.B Priestley purposely put the Inspector in to a position where he could question and interrogate everyone. This is because he determined to use the Inspector to get the declaration of guilt out of Gerald Croft and the Birlings, in order to move the play along. He spoke to each of them in turn, but each was spoken to in a different manner from the previous. The Inspector starts with Mr. Birling. He makes an entrance when Mr. Birling say's 'a man has to make his own way - look after himself - and his own family too...' This is because he knows Mr. Birling is wrong and that people's selfishness may possibly lead to big trouble. Mr. Birling had been the initial factor in compelling Eva, to the point of suicide. He had sacked her as she contradicted him, due to her being a 'strike ring leader,' who had wanted higher payment.
The Inspector behaves normally at first, i.e., 'Do you remember her' and 'I think you remember Eva Smith now, don't you Mr. Birling.' No matter how hard Mr. Birling controls himself; the Inspector does seem to be aggravating him a lot, whilst asking questions. 'Well, Inspector, I don't see that it's any of your concern...' However, the Inspector finds the way to probe whilst Mr. Birling tries upholds his status.
Next, he interviews Sheila Birling, who was second in line to push Eva to the path of suicide. Sheila had got Eva sacked from her happy job at Millwards because she was jealous of her and her beauty. The Inspector makes Sheila realise how wrong she was to do that, which makes Sheila feel extremely guilty and repentant. This is partly through what he says to her and how that makes her feel. 'Why did you do that?' And, 'How was it the girls fault?' Sheila is shown a picture of Eva, whose guilt overwhelms her, but after; 'She gives a half-stifle sob and runs out.'
When he interviews Gerald Croft, he refuses to acknowledge Eva Smith-Daisy Renton, nevertheless we later find out that he had kept her as his mistress for 5 months, he had given her money and a place to live at his friend's house. The Inspector advances Gerald on to continue talking by interrupting him when he takes frequent pauses. 'Come along Mr. Croft, what happened?' This makes it seem that he is rather impatient towards him.
Mrs. Birling is a rather haughty person, and it doesn't seem to her that the Inspector has any right to question her. Mrs. Birling finally gives in; when it is revealed that Eva Smith had come to her as Mrs. Birling; to seek help from her as she was unmarried and pregnant. Mrs. Birling used her position to get her claim refused. She also told her to... 'Go and look for the father of the child. It's his responsibility. Mrs. Birling's behaviour to the Inspector is quite rude and also what she expresses. 'If I was, what business is it of yours?' At this the inspector replies quite severely, 'Do you want me to tell you in plain words?' This shows that he does not stand impertinent and arrogant people.
The Inspector leaves Eric Birling for last, as he is the father of Eva's child. He had met her at the palace bar and then entered her home in a drunken state. The Inspector is well aware of this and he feels that it is his job to remind Eric, of what he had done. 'Remember what you did- just used her up for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as is she was an animal or a thing, not a person. No you won't forget.' This is one of the harshest things he has said, in order to make the Birlings realise that they had done great damage to Eva and nothing they do will make Eva come back. They all used her, and then compelled her in to committing suicide. This makes the audience feel that, he must be a friend or a relative, for a person who feels so strongly for Eva Smith and felt that she went through a great amount of injustice.
The way in which J.B Priestley wanted the actor to present the character of the Inspector is shown through the stage directions; through the actor's appearance and the way he acted.
The way the Inspector made an entrance, shows an immediate impression of massiveness, purpose and solidity. This is proven in the text as: 'The Inspector need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. He is a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period. He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking.'
These have an impact on the audience, as almost instantly they get the impression of the inspectors' dominance and authoritative presence. The Inspector is also seen as an influential person, particularly for Sheila. We can also see how he uses his tonal voice and body language, to command those who don't listen; he gets an immediate reaction, of silence. '(Taking charge masterfully)' and 'stop!' This at once causes the Birlings to be stunned in to silence. The Inspector uses his tone, to control the behaviour of the Birlings; '(very harshly).'
If the Inspector is trying to make the Birlings realise what they had done and how they should be repentant and guilty; he portrays it through his voice. i.e. '(Rather savagely to Birling.)' 'You started it.' And '(massively) Public men, Mr. Birling have responsibilities as well as privileges.' This is because he wants Mr. Birling to realise what he did was wrong and that he was the source of the problem and he has to realise this in the fight against status and class differences. Priestly uses his stage directions to make the play come alive. This is so that the reader experiences the situations in the play, and also to visualize the appearance of the character and how he should appear on stage. This makes the story more realistic and helps the audience to take part in the play.
In the opening speeches of the play, we see that Mr. Birling mentions a variety of things to be taken in to account for; many of them seem to be not true. Furthermore, what he believes will happen in future events happen to turn out wrong. Therefore we, as the audience see Mr. Birling as an unreliable and questionable character. Mr. Birling believes that the Titanic is absolutely unsinkable; 'The Titanic - she sails next week - forty six thousand eight hundred tons..........and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.' However this is proved wrong as on the date of 15th of April 1912 at 2:20 in the morning, the unfortunate incident happened and the Titanic sank killing approximately 1500 innocent people. In addition, we know that World War 1 happened in 1912 and that World War 2 happened in 1945, however Mr. Birling flawed in his speech again. 'You'll be living in a world that'll have forgotten all these capital versus labour agitations and all these silly little war scares. They'll be peace prosperity and rapid progress everywhere.' We see from these extracts that he was wrong about a further incident, this is noticed when he mentions 'peace and prosperity...' By this time there were numerous strikes and disagreements. One of the major occurrences was from the action taken by the suffragettes; for the women's vote. If the audience perceives Mr. Birling as an unreliable and questionable character, it will have a direct impact the audience when he is questioned by the Inspector. The persistent impression that he isn't reliable or honest will remain in the audiences' minds. This means that Mr. Birling will get no sympathy from the audience, therefore remaining an unpopular character in the play.
The social situations in 1912 and after were cruel and hostile. There were huge divisions between the higher class and the lower class people. The people of lower stature were discriminated against and used for cheap labours, long hours and harsh treatment. The suffragettes decided to take action for equal treatment and equal rights for women. This is because women in those days were treated as second class citizens and always overpowered by arrogant and egoistic males. The suffragette's protests were clearly for the improvement for women's lives.
World War 1 had started because of the tension between Russia (Siberia), and Austria-Hungary. This was a devastation, many thousands were killed, many left homeless and with no shelter - especially children. Fortunately this ended in 1918. World War 2 happened because countries including England intervened to prevent Hitler from taking over Europe.
The Inspector was well aware of the problems in the social system; we know this from what he said. These were normally from the things referred to Eva. 'There are lots of young women living that sort of existence......If there weren't, the factories and warehouses wouldn't know where to look for cheap labour.' This is saying that as people normally take women for granted; those who live like Eva Smith, and if there weren't then people wouldn't know where to get cheap labour from. The Inspector also articulates that, 'one Eva Smith is gone -but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smith's and John Smith's still left with us, with their lives hopes and fears all intertwined with our lives.' This acquaints us with the Inspector's view on the social system, which is that we should all unite and support each other. We should realise our responsibilities and where our top most important priorities lie. Taking care of each other whether, they are black or white, rich or poor. Nevertheless if we don't redeem the situation and improve ourselves then we don't have a chance of surviving in this world, because without concerns, love and humanitarian feeling inside us, this world is not a world, it is hell.
In my opinion, Inspector Goole represented many aspects of the social situation portrayed in the play, whether it was the discrimination of the working class, or the way the social situation was in 1912. J.B Priestly intended to create the Inspector, so that he would stand out as the cries of the unfortunate women, the pleas of the poor people and the voice of the social conscience. This play was created in order to reach out to people of all kinds, to support one and another. If we fail in taking up our responsibilities and caring for people, no matter of financial or racial status, then the whole social cohesion might collapse. The main role of the inspector in J.B Priestley's social play An Inspector Calls was that of the social conscience. To make people realise what their responsibilities were socially as well as professional and personal. The Inspector was created so that he could be used to reach out to people, to make them understand and acknowledge where there duties lie in society and to arise such an emotion that they feel compelled to help in the betterment of this society and this world. Therefore, it is our responsibility and our job to maintain social harmony and peace; otherwise we would be heading for much warfare, hostilities and world domination.
Aliyah Shaikh Year 11
Hampstead School