J.B Priestley purposely put the Inspector in a position where he could question and interrogate everyone. This is because he had to use the Inspector to get the confessions out of Gerald and the Birlings, in order to move the play along. He spoke to each of them in turn, but each of them was spoken to in a different manner from the first.
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 that Mr. Birling is wrong and that people’s selfishness could lead to big trouble.
Mr. Birling had been the first to push Eva, to the point of suicide. He had sacked her as she was 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 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 realize 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, but after; ‘She gives a half-stifle sob and runs out.’
When he interviews Gerald Croft, he refuses to acknowledge Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton. But 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 keeps Gerald going 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 don’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 behavior to the Inspector is quite rude and also what she says. ‘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 realize that they had done great damage to Eva and nothing they do will make Eva come back. They all used her, and then pushed 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 un justice.
The way that 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 that the Inspector made an entrance, shows an immediate impression of massiveness, purpose and solidity. This is shown through his physical appearance and the way he behaves. 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.’
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 behavior of the Birlings; ‘(very harshly).’
If the Inspector is trying to make the Birlings realize 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 realize what he did was wrong and that he was the root of the problem and that he has to realize this in the fight against status and class differences.
Priestly uses his stage directions to make the play come alive. 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 in what he says. Many of them seem to be not true; furthermore, what he believes will happen in the future events seem to turn out wrong. Therefore we – the audience see Mr. Birling as an unreliable and questionable character.
Events that Mr. Birling gets wrong are:
We know that the Titanic sank on the 15th of April 1912; however 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.’
We know that World War 1 happened in 1912 and that World War 2 happened in 1945, however Mr. Birling was wrong 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.’ As we see from these extracts that he was wrong about another thing, and that was when he mentioned peace and prosperity... By this time there are numerous strikes and feuding one of the major ones were from the action taken by the suffragettes – for the women’s vote.
If the audience thinks Mr. Birling is unreliable and questionable, this will affect the audience, when the Inspector questions him. They will always have the impression that he isn’t reliable and that he is not honest. This means that Mr. Birling will get no sympathy from the audience.
The social situations in 1912 and after were cruel. There was a huge division between the higher class and the lower classes. Who were discriminated against and used for cheap labours, long hours and harsh treatment.
The suffragettes decided to take action as women in those days, were treated as second class citizens, always overpowered by arrogant and egoistic males. The suffragette’s protests were clearly for the improvement in 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 on 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 – who live like Eva Smith. And if there weren’t, then people wouldn’t know where to get cheap labour from.
The Inspector also says 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 tells us that the Inspector’s view on the social system is that we should all unite and support each other. We should realize our responsibilities and where our top most important priorities lie. Taking care of each other whether, they are black or white, rich or poor. That if we don’t redeem the situation and improve it then we don’t have a chance of surviving.
In my opinion, Inspector Goole represented many aspects of the social situation, 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 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. Therefore, it is our responsibility and our job to maintain social harmony and peace, otherwise we would be heading for world domination and many wars.
BY ALIYAH SHAIKH
YEAR 10
SANDRA CRAWFORD