The false inspector prepares the Birling family and Gerald Croft for the real inspector because he goes through each members involvement with Eva Smith also known as Daisy Renton and Mrs Birling.
He had only the diary as evidence yet the content of the diary was never revealed to any of the suspects.
He knows that Eva Smith was to drink strong disinfectant and commit suicide on the night he confronts the family even before the incident actually occurred; he also knows that a real inspector is to question the family circle about Eva.
He prepares them for the future, the real inspector and the war. He tries to teach them that they can’t treat poorer people any less than people with the equal wealth as them.
The spurious inspector behaves peculiarly within the Birling family unit, his name also seems a little unusual because he has predicted the future and when Arthur Birling asked him what his name was; ‘What did you say you name was, Inspector?’ he states clearly and spells I tout for him to avoid confusion ‘Goole. G double O-L-E,’ making sure it wasn’t misapprehended with ‘Ghoul’ because with him being a future teller someone may have thought he was a ghost or ghoul.
He proceeds with the enquiry in chronological order. He speaks carefully, weightily and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he is addressing. When showing each person the photograph he seems to try and conceal the photograph from the other suspects intentionally as if he had presented a diverse one each time.
Eva was a young woman in her mid-twenties, the fact that the Birlings and Mr Croft victimised her meant that they could also victimise millions of other Eva and John Smiths ‘...one Eva Smith has gone-but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and john Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives and what we think and say and do...’ What the inspector means by this is that if no one made the family realise what they were doing then they could cause many other suicides without intent.
The false inspector prepares the Birlings and Gerald Croft by discussing each person’s part in Eva Smiths life. Now that all the family know each other’s misfortunes then maybe they will answer differently when the real inspector visits.
Mr. Birling wants to get his knighthood, to accomplish this he is required to keep out of trouble with the legal system. I think that Mr Birling is going to answer differently to the real inspector so it doesn’t reflect unfavourably on his reputation. He also wants to show Gerald’s mother and father that Sheila is good enough for Gerald to marry.
Only Inspector Goole knows the real reasons why Eva Smith took her own life and the families’ contribution to this, the only way in which the real inspector would know was if he possessed Eva Smiths diary and used it as evidence against them.
Goole was also trying to portray that there would be a war because people cant carry on treating others as they do at that present time and if you did then you would have to pay some manner of consequences.
Mr Birling is almost certain that there isn’t going to be a war and it was impossible for the Titanic to sink but we now know that there were two world wars and the Titanic did sink.
The bogus inspector is the Birlings and Gerald Crofts conscience. He obviously is apprehensive about the real inspector visiting the Birlings that night otherwise he wouldn’t have arrived at the residence and made them think about what they had said and done to Eva. I think he was trying to explain to the family that just because you are wealthier and/or of a higher class than someone you can’t treat them any less than you would like to be treated yourself.
