He arrives just after Birling has been setting out his views of life: that every man must only look out for himself. The Inspector's role is to show that this is not the case. Throughout the play he demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others; his views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech: that 'we are members of one body. We are responsible for each other'. Responsibility is one of the play's two key themes, and the Inspector is Priestley's vehicle for putting across his own views of this as a socialist. In this final speech, he is speaking as much to the audience as to the characters on stage. His words here are a warning to an audience in 1945 not to repeat the selfish mistakes that led to the 'fire and blood and anguish' of two World Wars and the years between them.
The inspector doesn’t try to control the reactions of each person he questions, only uses his information about the girl's life and character, her diary and a letter, her photograph, and constant reminders of the horrific death she has suffered, to create the possibility for others to face up to what they have done. They must decide whether to change or not - Sheila and Eric do; the Birlings and perhaps Gerald do not.
The Inspector has a moral dimension, which makes him different from an ordinary policeman: he is more concerned with right and wrong than with what is legal. He sternly tells Birling, for example, that 'it's better to ask for the earth [as a worker might do] than to take it [which Birling does]'. But he also tells the characters that 'if you're easy with me, I'm easy with you' - he has compassion for those who are willing to accept their responsibility, but nothing so simple as forgiveness. After all, 'the girl's [still] dead though'.
Birling
Priestley describes him in the opening stage directions as a 'rather portentous man', full of his own self-importance. In the play, he is certainly very concerned with his social position - he twice mentions that he was Lord Mayor as a way of impressing Gerald, and mentions the knighthood to him, even though it is far from definite. He is solely worried about how his family's reputation will suffer at the inquest when he hears of Mrs Birling's part in the girl's death, and he is more concerned about how to 'cover...up' Eric's thefts than about how to put them right. He obviously believes that others are as easily impressed by social connections as he is. (We know he is easily impressed because of his evident pride at Gerald's family background; he obviously believes he has made a good match for Sheila.)
Birling does not believe he has a responsibility to society, only to his family: 'a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own'. He is not upset, unlike Eric, at hearing the details of the girl's death, which shows him to be a little heartless. “ I can’t accept any responsibility.”
He is suspiciously defensive when he thinks the Inspector is accusing him of causing it, and - like Mrs Birling - is relieved when he thinks the finger is no longer pointing at him. This is hypocritical because, as the Inspector says, 'the girl's [still] dead, though'. He also has double standards: for he sees nothing strange in wanting to protect Sheila from the unpleasantness of the girl's life and death, yet feels no guilt at not having protected the girl herself.
After the Inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He cannot understand Sheila's and Eric's insistence that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right up until the end, he claims that 'there's every excuse for what both your mother and I did - it turned out unfortunately, that's all'.
Birling is not the cold and narrow-minded person that his wife is; he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play: It is the Birlings of the world whom Priestley feared - in 1945 - who would not be willing or able to learn the lessons of the past, and so it is to the younger generation that Priestley hopefully looked instead.
Sheila
Sheila Birling is questioned next by the Inspector. Sheila first became acquainted with Ms Smith when Eva received a job at Milwards, a well-known department store. Sheila and her mother made purchases at this store frequently. Eva worked as a sales assistant at this store and Sheila got Eva fired when she lost her temper at her for smiling at her in a way, which she found offensive. Sheila could be compared to her father as she too helped to cause Eva's death by getting her sacked from her job but here the similarities end.
She shows a great deal of remorse and guilt for her actions against Eva. “ I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse.” She has to be admired for her willingness to open up and accept the blame for her actions. “I’m trying to tell the truth.” She also knows that her actions where wrong and admits that she would take them back if she had the chance “ It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anyone.”
Gerald
Gerald’s involvement with Eva Smith or as she is now known, Daisy Renton, started out very honourably. His tale starts in a bar where he spots Eva/Daisy being cornered by a drunken Aldermann Meggarty. He then learns of her homelessness and offers a flat for her to live in for the moment. He gave Eva/Daisy everything which she craved for at that point in her life, a home, food, money and the thing which she craved most of all; companionship. She soon became his mistress but Gerald broke it off and did not see her again. Although Gerald could be seen as a user, he did provide her with some happiness for a long time, something that she had not had for a long time. He felt genuinely upset at the news of Daisy's death, he was so affected that he had to leave the room. As he cared for her and felt guilty when he knew who she was I feel that Gerald is only partly to blame. He is however more to blame than Sheila, as he does not care about the girl to greatly until he learns that he knew of her.
Mrs Birling
Mrs Birling met Eva/Daisy two weeks before her supposed death. Eva/Daisy came to the Brumley Women's Charity Organization appealing for money and help to support her child. As Eva/Daisy's child was conceived with Eric, she chose to take his surname. Mrs Birling took this offensively, thinking that the girl meant to be impertinent and lost her temper, which led her to become prejudiced against her case from the start.
All the way through the act Mrs Birling has no remorse or guilt for what has happened to this girl. “She had only herself to blame.” To her, the very matter of the death is beneath her and her family. In her mind, the death is a great shame, but nothing to do with her and nothing for her to worry about. “ Unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of.”
I believe that Mrs Birling was probably the most responsible, not only because she was last step before Eva/Daisy ended her life but also in my eyes she was the most powerful one. Eva/Daisy was at a time where she was most emotional and feeling desperate as her life had progressed in a downward spiral ever since she lost her job for fighting for what she believed in. When Mrs Birling refused her help, she must have felt like that was the last straw. She had missed the last train to any sort of life improvement and felt that she had no other option but to end her life and on-going misery.
Eric
Eric Birling was associated with Eva due to his relationship with her. Eric met this girl at the Palace Bar, where he began talking to her and offered to take her home where he forced his way into her house and made love to her. His excuse for his behaviour was primarily that he was drunk. He continued to see her for some time before she told him that she was pregnant. She refused to take any money from Eric, as she knew that it was stolen and she also refused to do what was at that time considered to be the decent thing and marry Eric because she knew that he did not love her.
Eric also continued to feel guilty after learning that there was no Eva/Daisy, just as his sister did. “ You’re beginning to pretend now that nothing’s really happened at all. And I can’t see it like that.” All of this shows that Eric, despite all of his irresponsible actions, did try to do what was morally right afterwards.
In summary each character is punished in an appropriate way. Birling fears for his family's reputation at the inquest; Sheila feels shame for her selfishness; Gerald has his affair revealed in front of Sheila; Mrs Birling has her illusions about the respectability of her family shattered by Eric; and Eric is revealed before his indulgent parents as a spoilt and inadequate young man. But notice how in each case the punishment is a consequence of their own behaviour; the Inspector himself does not bring punishment from outside. Perhaps this is why they are given a second chance at the end of the play - that their experience should have been a warning to them.
The Inspector sees through each character. He forces each character to admit what they already secretly know. He is Priestley's vehicle for his views on social responsibility. He is the catalyst for the play's events. He controls the play's events. He has a moral dimension. He brings about each character's punishment through their own actions. He is each character's last chance.
