Birling is the head of the family and an owner of an industrial business. He is a wealthy and very arrogant man who embodies the upper-class system, striving to better his social position by any means possible, but in the process he is losing touch with his son, as Eric doesn’t conform to Mr Birling’s level hypocrisy Birling just steamrollers on however, this is clear in the script when he tells Eric that,’ Unless you brighten your ideas, you’ll never be in a position to let anybody stay or to tell anybody to go. It’s about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities’. This was a result of Eric defending Eva Smith in her decision to ask for a higher wage. This shows that the inspector shows little remorse for others and will never admit he is in the wrong. The Inspector on the other hand is a calm and collected character; this is represented in his appearance and attitude. The Inspector doesn’t give much away and like his persona, he is mysterious but much focussed on the task in hand. He is not impressed by Mr Birling’s working philosophy and makes a reference to this after he describes the background of Eva and how desperate she was after losing her job at Birling and company. He tells Sheila who is becoming upset at the harsh reality of Eva’s life ‘There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big town. If there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour. Ask your father.’ By saying this the inspector is trying is putting the message across that girls like either smith help crofts limited and if it wasn’t for them big companies will struggle to find employees.
The use of lighting on the stage is cleverly done to create the harshness and the reality of the information he brings. The light changes from a soft pink homely feel, to a hard Wight light, which in itself changes the mood of the play and makes the entrance of the Inspector more important. The entrance of his character is described as creating ‘an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. He is a man in his fifties, dressed in plain darkish suit. He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’ there is a huge contrast in the way both the inspector and Mr Birling are described on stage as Mr Birling is described as a "heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties but rather provincial in his speech." This highlights the difference in the two characters from they way they dress to the way they talk. I believe Mr Birling is portrayed this way as it symbolises how selfish he is and how important he thinks he is, he often launches into conversation without thinking things through in rather a bombastic manner. The Inspector on the other hand is very thoughtful and delivers calculated well thought out statements. Being of a high social class is very important to Mr Birling and there are many examples in the play which suggest this for example at the start of Act 1 when Mr Birling is talking about the port he bought for the party he says ‘you ought to like this port Gerald. As a matter of fact, Finchley told me it’s exactly the same port your father gets from him.’ This shows that he thinks that by having similar tastes as Gerald’s father, he therefore must be of similar social standing. Later on in Act 1 Birling asks for his family to leave the room, so that he can talk to Gerald in private. He then goes on to boast about how is expecting to get a knighthood, using this as a tool to justify that Sheila should be thought of as a good social match for Gerald. Even though this information would be top secret he is willing for it to leak out in the hope that it would make a difference to how he is perceived .He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, morally he has very little regard for anyone who gets in his way. He further lets himself down by discussing the business advantages of the two families being joined by marriage, at a time when he should have been toasting the couples’s happiness.
The Inspector on the other hand is not affected by social classes. His philosophy on life is much more based on good morals, being an advocate for those less able poorer people such as Eva. He is thoughtful and calculated in his approach, and would not be biased by any favours .He is in full control of his own person and is not pretentious. Where Birling talks about the Chief Constable as a golfing friend and says ‘Perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine’, the Inspector shows very little regard for this and knows that morally he is way above Birling. It is this sense of morality that plays a big part throughout the play and influences the characters to behave as they do. Birling is unforgiving in his manner, but Mrs Birling is influenced by the role of wife of a very important business man and doesn’t really show her true feelings. Mrs B tries very hard to keep her composure but when annoyed she makes reverence to the fact that ‘You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago and that he’s still a magistrate.’ This shows that Mrs Birling is trying to intimidate the professor. Mrs Birling’s daughter Sheila however has a very softer approach and changes throughout the play from a cosseted naïve person to a much wiser thoughtful girl much more aware of the real world outside. Eric gains in confidence when his father’s faults become clear and he feels more respect for the Inspectors philosophy. He acknowledges his own bad behaviour but is also able to tell his parents that he is ashamed of them and really they can’t argue with that.
There is a huge contrast between the Inspector and Mr Birling as they both have different attitudes and opinions. Mr Birling is an arrogant and materialistic character who uses his wealth and authority over people in order to get his own way. He appears on stage as a fat arrogant man who has little time for people who he thinks are of lower social class. I can tell this from the way he talks to the Inspector. An example of this where Mr Birling says angrily ‘Look-there is nothing mysterious or scandalous about this business………..obviously it has nothing to do with the wretched girls suicide’ this show an enormous lack of compassion and respect and he also thought that he could get angry and intimidate the Inspector.
The way the two characters present theirs philosophies are also very different. The Inspector is always very calm and cool and his tone of voice doesn’t change through out the play he looks at each character intently which cleverly undermines them, Birling on the other hand gets angry and impatient when he feels under threat. This is shown throughout the play and it highlights the difference between Birling and the inspector in the way they react to different situations and this is all down to their different philosophies. This is shown in ACT1 when Birling loses his temper with the inspector as he says angrily,’ Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?’ Birling is getting worried about the line of questioning regardless of the reason. The Inspector however doesn’t back down but maintains his focus of justice for the dead girl. He replies‘I didn’t do it she’s upsetting herself.’ This also shows that the Inspector isn’t intimidated by Birling and that he doesn’t care how angry Birling gets, he will always keep calm and in control and keep going until he has pursued his line of enquiry.
In conclusion throughout the play the Inspector doesn’t gather one piece of information he doesn’t already know. J B Priestley uses the different characters to show how moral values are much stronger than any amount flash talking or social standing. He was able to use the character of the Inspector to highlight how badly the Birlings and Gerald had treated this young girl and probably others who they feel are of a lower social class. The Inspector is a very confident and commanding character throughout the play and is always in control of all the other characters. In the end it was his character who could have been of a higher social class not the Birlings. This is a very well written play which has a big emphasis on morality and probably makes the audience look at themselves and their behaviour in comparison to the characters on stage. It has stood the test of time over the years as its theme and lesson in morality can be used from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.
