Inspector Goole has a great presence, ’he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. Inspector Goole dominates the situation from the start and is not intimidated by Mr. Birling, Gerald Groft or anyone else in the family.
Inspector Goole is always in control, ‘(taking charge masterfully)’, he dominates the proceedings though-out the play, ‘(cooly, looking hard at him)’, this also shows that Inspector Goole is not intimidated by anybody in the family and is in total control all the time. This shows to me that as well as not being intimidated by the family he is also controlling and dominating.
Inspector Goole deliberately controls the pace at which events are revealed, ‘all in good time’, Inspector Goole likes to put a lot of pressure the person he is questioning. One of the ways he does this is by starring the person being questions square in the eye, he also speaks slowly, ‘(slowly) Are you sure you don’t know? He looks at Gerald, then Eric, then at Sheila’. By saying this then looking at Gerald, Eric and Sheila he is putting a lot of pressure on these specific characters. Inspector Goole takes his time, he speaks slowly and stares at the other characters, all these aspects are important in making the other characters confess to knowing Eva Smith.
Later in the play Inspector Goole’s behaviour changes from being calm and cool to becoming threatening and aggressive. ‘If your easy with me, I’m easy with you’, therefore if your difficult and awkward with Inspector Goole he will be difficult and awkward with you. ‘Don’t stammer and yammer at me again, man. I’m losing all patience with you people.’, this is another time in the play where we can see that Inspector Goole is not afraid or intimidated by Mr or Mrs Birling, at this point as well we can see that Inspector Goole is losing his temper. Inspector Goole has gone from being calm to losing all patience with the family.
There is also another side to Inspector Goole, he seems to have a supernatural aspect to him, ‘If men will not learn that lesson, they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.’ Inspector Goole here seems to be talking about the World Wars to come and the pain and hardship they will bring to many. ‘ Is that when the Inspector came, just after Father said that?’, this also gives Inspector Goole a supernatural aspect because he just happens to arrive when Mr Birling is insulting community spirit, this makes it seem that Inspector Goole has come to teach the family a lesson.
When a director is casting this role he would have to consider many aspects of Inspector Goole’s character. The actor would have to make an impression of massiveness, thou he need not be a large man but neither should he be small and feeble looking, the actor needs to be cool and calm, he can’t be nervous looking, he also needs to be able to strike fear into his fellow characters. If all the points are not met the character would not have the dramatic importance he should.
I conclude that the dramatic importance of Inspector Goole’s character is that his conduct, the way he can put fear and pressure on the character he is questioning, and his manner, he is not intimidated by Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald Croft, is crucial in revealing the chain of events that led to the death of Eva Smith. The actor in this role would need to be able to illustrate this or the character will have less dramatic influence.