In the opening act of the play Priestley’s characters show what he thinks about society at the time the play is set, using different characters to preach his feelings.
In the play there are several characters and each is different but of the six characters, 3 do not feel any remorse while the other two do, these two are grouped with the inspector because they have the same idea about how people should be in the future.
There are two main characters in this story, these are:
Arthur Birling- A wealthy businessman who is very involved in local politics, his attitude is that of “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself” is discredited by the confessions that the inspector draws out of the other characters yet he does not change his views or attitude over the course of the play.
He cannot see that his actions towards the girl were wrong and if the events were repeated he would still feel justified in sacking the girl.
He sees nothing strange in wanting to protect Sheila from the girl’s unpleasant life and death, yet he feels no guilt at not having protected the girl himself.
When the inspector leaves he simply wants things to go back to as they were before the inspector arrived. He cannot understand Sheila and Eric’s that there is something to be learnt and he is relieved and triumphant when he that a scandal has been avoided and everything is all right, despite his half centered and unrepentant attitude it is possible to feel some sympathy for him at the end of the play when his relief is shattered by the police phone call. Perhaps we can feel this because Priestley lets us see someone who is blindly wrong and never really in control of events as he would like himself, and others, to think.
Inspector Goole- The inspector is a mysterious character that the audience does not know much about. He is a character who represents Priestley’s strong moral view. He does not forgive what the other characters have done and by using what he already knows he creates an impression of someone who is both an outsider and an all-knowing creature. This is what makes him appear mysterious yet powerful. His lack of fear or favour, his determined questioning and control of events may be what are expected of a policeman but towards the close of the play these qualities fuel suspicion.
His approach has been perhaps too abrasive and he is clearly someone for whom social conventions count for nothing when weighted against the desire for truth and justice.
The inspector’s manner is deceptive; he creates the impression of massiveness, solidity, purposefulness. His authority strengthens hi strong moral tone, he can cut into the dialogue “with authority” as he does when he tells Burling that he can “wait his turn”. He speaks firmly when he contradicts Burling and allows Eric to have another drink, he gets more irritated as the night goes on – just as the parents show their own impatience and intolerance as the night goes on. He is persistent and asks very personal questions. The inspector uses emotive language. Inspector Goole has came into the house to stir things up, to get a reaction and one way of doing this is to use emotive language e.g. to Mrs. burling he says that “Eva was alone, friendless, almost penniless and desperate” and all that Mrs. Burling had done was “slammed the door” in her face. After the inspectors last “fire, blood and anguish” speech everybody is affected- Sheila is quietly crying, Mrs. Burling has collapsed into a chair. Eric is brooding desperately and Mr. Birling hastily swallows a drink.
The inspector does not treat the Birling differently to how he treats anybody else because he is from a different social background and treats everybody the same regardless of how rich or poor they are.
Social classes are a big theme in the story and Mrs. Burling thinks the working class are a different species and also the story is about capitalism and socialism but also different generations and how they react to people from different social classes. The old generation are old fashioned and the younger ones are different but the Birling want the children to follow in their footsteps regardless of what they want. But at the end of the play the younger are no longer governed by their parents. The characters language shows their social attitudes. The Birling and crofts see themselves as “respectable” citizens of the “right” social class where men are referred to as “chaps” and Gerald calls Mr. Birling “sir”.
Euphemisms are used a lot in the play to talk about certain matters. When the characters find a subject offensive they often use euphemisms. A eupemism an inoffensive word or phrase used instead of an offensive or a hurtful one. “Its said that Eva went on the streets” where she led “another kind of life” and became “a woman of the town”, the whole play is about learning to accept the truth and using these is doing the opposite- its covering things up.
Goole uses language differently. He speaks his mind and chooses not to shadow the truth and Mr. and Mrs. Birling find him offensive because of his manner and because he is “rude” and “impertinent”.
Sheila uses simple language at the start of the play, (“Im sorry daddy”) but by the end of the play she becomes more confident and assertive and directly disagrees with her mum and dad.
This play show how Priestley can be seen as a social critic because the play itself is full of references to what is bad about the world at the time it is set in. I enjoyed reading this play because it is full of major plot twists that kept me guessing as to what would happen at the end of the play.
