His name is Inspector Goole. The name ‘Goole’ is that of a seaside town which lies at the mouth of the river. This could suggest that the Inspector may fish for evidence and search deep into the family lives, secrets and lies.
The Inspectors name ‘Goole’ sounds familiar to ghoul which is a spirit said to take fresh life from corpses. You might now say that the Inspector has come about due to Eva Smiths death for what reasons we do not yet know.
The Inspector speaks ‘carefully and weightily’ which suggests a calm and composed man who is a deep thinker. He is single minded and determined to gain as much information out of each character as possible. Gerald says ‘somehow he makes you’ implying the Inspector has a certain aura about him and he in a sense tricks you into spurting out the truth.
The Inspector has a dramatic effect simply by his manor and presence. He speaks with authority and there is degree harshness about his tone. He is described as having a ‘disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’. This gives the other person the impression that maybe he is looking right through them and can see what they are thinking. They don’t want to lie to him because as they know that he will know they are lying. Sheila also warns against anyone lying to him saying ‘… he knows. Of course he knows’. This helps give the Inspector power over although others and makes him appear superior with a greater sense of authority. This shows how the Inspector has a dramatic effect on the characters as well as the audience. He is a menacing character who as an aura of authority which had a dramatic impact on the characters and even the audience.
The Inspector speaks with a manner that can be menacing and intimidating. He ‘has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking to them’. Along with his ‘massive presence’ it is no wonder the family let out their secrets. In a sense they are bullied into by the Inspector’s rather potent and inquisitive approach. He tends to make his exits and entrances quite dramatic and they always seem have a purpose as if he knew when to come in or out.
The Inspector adds greatly to the tension and drama in the Birling Household. His arrival coincides with Mr Birling’s speech on ‘community and that nonsense’. Mr Birling has just said how ‘a man must mind to his own business and look after himself’. The inspector though has come to teach the family the complete opposite.
The doorbell rings ‘sharply’ and this coincides with a change in mood of tension and drama within the household. Instead of coming in with Edna the inspector chooses to wait which builds up anxiety within the family members as they wait for his entrance. When he does enter the pink intimate lighting turns to a much brighter colour which signifies tension and drama. Once again the inspector has had a significant dramatic effect by changing the mood of the household.
We as the audience observe how the Inspector uses dramatic devices such as pauses and repeats to build up an even greater amount of tension. When he first arrives he gives sharp answers with little depth which create pauses as the family members think what to say. This creates a degree of awkwardness. The inspector repeats the phrase ‘of course’ several times upon entry. He does so when describes the girls death at gruesome points and the phrase suggests that it is nothing unusual and he has seen it before. This creates a certain drama and the inspector used it to shock the family.
The use of photograph creates drama among the family because it’s as if they have been responsible in some way for her death of the girl which they in fact have and the audience believe they have so to. When Sheila is shown the photo she gives ‘a half stifled cry, and runs out’. The photograph links the victim to the perpetrator and confirms the audiences suspicious about each characters involvement with the girl’s death. The audience can often judge whether the family member is involved by the characters reaction with can be dramatic.
The Inspector uses single words to great effect. When he is asked a question he often answers ‘Yes’. The family then go on to reveal more, he lets them talk amongst themselves and he often has to say very little to extract a secret out of the family members.
At the end of each act we are left with a cliff-hanger. Act 1 ends with the Inspector simply saying ‘well’ and encouraging Gerald to reveal more. We now know that Gerald has to admit to what he has done. He and Sheila have just had an argument and the inspector says ‘well’ as if Gerald should explain to him as well. Gerald knows that he have to tell the truth as it seems the Inspector has a lot of background information and he also has a special ways of squeezing information out of people. This leaves the audience wondering what Gerald is going to do because it is obvious he is feeling discomfort. The fact that the scene ends builds up the audience’s anticipation and creates an atmosphere of drama and tension as a confession is imminent.
At the end of Act 2 we are left with another cliff-hanger. It has been suggested and is likely that Eric is the boy who made Daisy Renton pregnant. Tension has been built up as Mrs Birling has been saying the ‘drunken idler’ (the boy) ‘should be dealt with very severely’. She is not yet aware that Eric was the boy who got Daisy pregnant and she is condemning her own son saying he should be punished. The audience knows that something is wrong and they are right in thinking that Mrs Birling will come to regret her opinions. The Inspector is involved in both cliff-hangers which means he is involved in the parts of the play where there is dramatic importance. He often creates it by his persistent nature which reveals family secrets.
Sheila had all along been pleading with her mother to stop ‘Mother – stop - stop’ but in her ignorance she had simply said ‘your behaving like an hysterical child’ and she continued to ignore her warnings. So all this tension and drama has built up to this point and then the scene ends and the audience are left in suspense wondering if Eric was the father. They suspect he is but are not totally sure and are left wondering what is going to happen next.
The Inspector’s disappearance at the end is the pinnacle of all the tension and drama that has been built up during the course of the play, it is the dramatic climax and emphasises my belief that the Inspector plays a key role in terms of dramatic importance through put the play. We now believe the theory more than ever that he is some sort of an enigma as he is clearly not a police officer. The family is left ‘staring, subdued and wondering’, a lot of answered questions are left unanswered, and the family is purely in a state of disbelief.
The family is not sure whether he really was an Inspector or the whole thing was set up. Mr Birling says the inspector ‘behaves in a very peculiar and suspicious manor’. This confirms that they don’t totally believe he was a police Inspector and as they thing about it for longer they begin to think it was a hoax.
Just as the tension and drama begins to lessen there is one final dramatic twist. Having confirmed with the police no girl has been reported dead the family receive a phone call. Mr Birling is told ‘a girl has just died and is on her way to the infirmary’. Tension and drama are once again created and a whole new dimension is added to the play. The family as well as the audience, is left shocked and it once again raises the question what and who exactly was the inspector? It is the unresolved tension at the end of the play that is effective.
One function of the Inspector is to teach the Birling family about social responsibility. He arrives just as Mr Birling has been doing a speech about ‘every man for himself’. In a sense the Inspector has come to try and alter this viewpoint which Mr Birling is preaching to his family. Its appears he has come to teach he family a strong social message. The inspector encourages community spirit ‘We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. He is saying here that the community must work together to help each other.
Another function of the inspector is the story teller. As soon as he enters the house after a short greeting with the family he immediately begins to tell the story, ‘two hours ago a young woman died in the infirmary…’ He gets straight on with the story and helps us have an understanding of what actually happened. He also pieces together the bits of information to make the story fit. He uses a ‘small postcard sized photo’ of the girl to make sure each character knows the same woman and pieces the story together. He also give dates ‘December that year, nineteen ten’ which put the whole story into a time perspective and makes the whole story seem more realistic to the audience. The inspector gives a lot of background into formation such as ‘she swallowed a lot of disinfectant’. In this case it is to make an impact but often it is just to fill the audience in and help them understand what is going on.
It is fair to say that the Inspector was a forewarning of things to come for the Birling family. He comes and helps unravel all their secrets and then leaves them ‘wondering’. He has left them like this so they have had a chance to think things over. As the inspector is possibly some kind of enigma he may have known the Birlings were going to receive a phone call from the infirmary saying ‘the inspectors on his way’. He has given the family a chance to own up to things or possible cover up. Now they know the whole story they have the choice whether to make a cover up plan or own up to what they did and change their ways.
So you could say from this and many other things it is fair to say that the inspector acts as a kind of conscience to the character. As when he says to Sheila and Gerald ‘You see, we have to share something. If there’s nothing else we’’’ have to share our guilt’. He helps people to reveal hidden things and speak their conscience. He acts as a moral conscience to each character and always tries to get them to do the right thing.
The Inspector helps each character see the extent of what they have done. Those who lie and deny what he says he seems to come down more harshly on such as Mr Birling where at times he tries to comfort she when she takes on a lot of the responsibility. ‘You helped – but didn’t start it’, here he is deflecting the blame more towards Mr Birling who doesn’t feel guilt and quotes ‘I can’t accept responsibility’. Mr Birling thinks ‘it would be awkward if we were responsible for anyone we’d have anything to do with’ and the inspector tries to show him that he is to blame and should feel responsibility. Although he comes down harshly on the m all he realises ‘they are all to blame’ and tries to teach them all this even though some cannot accept it.
During the course of the play much is revealed about each character through their own confession and the inspector’s inquisitive manor. We learn a lot about each character and the first thing that is exposed is what Mr Birling has done. We learn from him ‘he is a self made… hard headed business man’ and this is evident in his part of the death of Eva Jones. Eva Smith and a group of others ask for a pay rise at the factory in which they work at. Strikes had been arranged about low paid and being the stern man he is Mr Birling tried to nip the rebellions in the bud. He to Eva Smith to ‘get out’ regardless to the fact she would be left with no job.
Sheila then again added to the ‘chain of events’. She is in Milwards trying on a dress and as she looked in the mirror she saw one of the shop assistants with a smug look. The woman was ‘very pretty’ and this added to Sheila’s jealous o she made a complaint. She threatened to persuade her mother to close her account with the shop unless the girl was sacked. The girl who was Eva Smith then is sacked for a second time and was left with no money. She admitted afterwards to being ‘jealous’ after questioning and eventually showed some remorse. She is one of the ‘more impressionable’ characters who did want to learn from the inspector and to change her ways.
We then are exposed to what Gerald had done. He saved Daisy Renton from an awkward situation with Alderman Meggarty who was a ‘half drunk and goggle eyed’ and he set out to help her. However his good intentions were taken over by the fact that he helped her and he began to have a relationship with her. He did though start to feel guilty as he knew he couldn’t be with her forever. So he gave her some money and let her start up a life somewhere else. The fact that ‘he made he happy’ for a short period of time makes us feel some sympathy towards him but it can’t hide the fact he use her and then just left her when she had strong feelings for him.
We then learn of what Mrs Birling a ‘rather cold woman’ has done. Daisy Renton came to her in need of some money. She used the name Mrs Birling as Eric had gotten her pregnant. Mrs Birling was appalled at the fact ‘she’d impertinently made us of the name’ and used her power in the committee to make sure that Daisy Renton didn’t receive any help. This shows she is a prejudiced woman and makes the decisions when people need help depending on how she feels about them. We also learn that puts others down to boost herself esteem and we see her call Eric a ‘silly boy’ which is a good example of what I mean.
Finally we learn of what Eric has done and how he features in the play. We are exposed to the fact that he has an alcohol problem and this why he is often described as being ‘squiffy’. When he was at the bar one night he met Daisy Renton and they began speaking and ended up getting her pregnant. Eric tries to make up for his mistake by giving her ‘stolen money’ but Daisy Renton accuses him of stealing it and refuses to take any more. Eric wanted to know if she’d marry him but he tells the inspector ‘she didn’t want to marry me’. So Eric tries to make up for his mistake but unguided he makes a number of wrong decisions.
Having been exposed to all of this information about each individual character it has become evident that there frailties amount the family members. There is obvious tension between Eric and his father. Eric describes his father as ‘not being the sort of farther a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’. This shows there is a lack of trust between the two and Eric doesn’t respect his father as much as he should.
There is also a lack of trust between Sheila and her mother. When Sheila warns her mother not to continue about punishing the ‘young idler’ Mrs Birling simply says ‘be quiet… you’re behaving like a hysterical child’ so this is due to Mrs Birling’s arrogance and the fact she pays little attention and possibly doesn’t trust her daughter.
The last frailty is between Sheila and Gerald. At the start of the play they seem all happy like a couple should be. But both have kept information from each other and Gerald has even had another mistress.
The final speech by the Inspector is one of dramatic importance in the play. In this speech the inspector puts across a strong moral message about social responsibility. In the speech he uses a number of rhetorical devices to try and emphasise the point he is trying to make.
He speaks about their being ‘millions and millions and million of Eva Smiths and John Smiths’. He is not referring to another one person here but the whole working class who at the time were in desperate need of better support. The fact that he repeats the word ‘millions’ three times highlights the scale of the problem that affects the working class people. There are many cases like Eva Smiths and we need to as a community take more social responsibility for those who are less fortunate than us.
He then uses a pattern of three when he says ‘We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. Here he uses a pattern of three to draw attention to his point that we must work as a community. Persuasive rhetorical devices are used by the Inspector such as the pattern of three and this draws the audience’s attention more so to the point that has been made.
The inspector uses the phrases ‘hopes and fears’ and ‘suffering and chance of happiness’ which adds contrast to his speech. Both phrases are contrast but they also contrast each other. They refer to the hopes that Eva Smith had but this soon turned in fear and suffering has her life began to fall apart. I think the inspector is showing us the two ways her life could have gone if one of the families had acted responsibility. He is once again putting across his point that we must care for others and not just ourselves.
At the end of his speech he warns the family that ‘if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish’. I think the inspector is trying to shock the characters and audience her and make them think about what they have done. A pattern of three is evident to try and make them think about what they have done and to change their ways.
The effect the inspector’s speech has on the characters is not the same for each person as he would have liked it to be. We are left at the ending of the play feeling that for the most part of the play the inspectors effort to revolutionise the family has been in vain. However there s some hope in the characters Eric and especially Sheila who are ‘more impressionable’ and still have time to change their thoughts on their young minds. Rather worryingly though the inspector seems to have had little or no effect on the rest of the family. Having found out there is no girl dead Mr Birling says ‘the while things different now’ but he like some of the other members of family has missed the point completely. Instead of saying he would change he acts as though nothing was happened and shows no sign or remorse or change. So although the inspector has some affect not even his powerful phrase at the end about men being ‘taught a lesson has rattled’ Mr Birling.
The inspector’s intention throughout the play is obvious. He is trying to teach the family why this ‘nasty mess someone has made of it’ being her death. He wanted to show the family how not caring for the community can have cruel effects on people’s lives. And he shows that it is easy to make a change but they must work ‘together’ and not as ‘one body’. He also wants to persuade the audience to that they should feel responsible for the people around them.
The inspector plays the role traditional role of the policeman in the ‘who dunnit story’ by slowly uncovering the truth through his commanding manner, careful questioning and ability to put information together. Although it is similar to a ‘who dunnit’ the genre cannot be classified as this as there is no actual illegal crime committed in the play. The play is intended to teach us a message about society and this is entwined by a clever thriller type story line.
The storey climaxes right at the very last moment of the play. Mr Birling receives a call saying that a girl has died and inspector has come round to visit the house. This brings back the characters emotion of feeling ‘dumbfound and guilty’ and the audience is left in a state of astonishment. The underlying tension that was left after the inspector’s abrupt exit has erupted once more and the audience are left wondering what the family will do now. Will they have learnt from there mistakes or will they make up a story. The telephone call has the same dramatic effect as the doorbell which we see at the start of the play when the inspector entered, they are both sharp, sudden and unexpected.
It also brings what exactly the inspector was back into the lime light. He almost predicted what would happen and we as an audience wonder how he could predicted the death of the girl. The play ends shrouded in mystery and once again the Inspector becomes of dramatic importance although he isn’t actually present. The audience sense something rather strange.
Throughout the play the Inspector has been of dramatic importance or had a dramatic effect. From his abrupt entrance where there is a ‘sharp’ ring of the doorbell to his dramatic speech and compelling disappearance he has imposed drama, tension and excitement adding to an enjoyable play.
