Sheila is on Eric’s side and openly admitted that she behaved badly, but she then pointed out that they were pretending that nothing much has happened. It is here when Eric reminds his father of what he had told himself and Gerald earlier that evening just before the inspector had arrived- ‘A man has to make his own way, look after himself and mind his own business, and that we weren’t to take any notice of these cranks who tells us that everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together’. Thinking about this, the Birling’s begin to have doubts as to whether the inspector is in fact, an inspector. It seemed too ironic that an inspector would walk in at that moment. Sheila described it as being ‘very queer’. She then quoted ‘it doesn’t much matter now’ how ever mister Birling disagrees as it matters ‘a devil of a lot to him’. He is relieved that there is still hope that his reputation is not at stake, and let off the hook in a way. Mr and Mrs Birling would be willing to forget that anything ever happened that night; whereas Sheila still feels the guilt for the situation.
Slowly, things began to make more sense for them. They suspected that they had been tricked into confessing to the so called inspector. As the family are sussing out their puzzled situation, Gerald Croft returns with some useful news. He informed the Birling’s that, on his way home, he bumped into a police officer and enquired about this ‘Inspector Goole. The police officer had never heard of him, and said that ‘there wasn’t any Inspector Goole or any one like him on the force’. Birling clarified this by ringing the police station and getting a second opinion. Much to their delight, Inspector Goole was in fact, a fraud after all.
While Gerald and Mr and Mrs Birling laugh at what they perceive to be a big hoax, Sheila and Eric do not join in with the celebration. They are still taking into consideration the seriousness of their actions.
The last twist to the plot is when the phone rings, and Mr Birling answers only to hear the drastic news that an inspector is about to arrive to investigate a girls suicide.
In Daldrey’s interpretation of this, when the inspector leaves and the Birling’s find that the whole thing was a hoax, Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald go back into the house as if nothing had happened. They are laughing and joking whilst they do so. However, Sheila and Eric choose not to go back inside the house- they stay on the ground.
Here, the house is symbolic- when the Birling's first came to realise what they had done, they were brought down to street level as they no longer felt that they were superior to everyone else. By showing them going back up to the house, this shows the audience that they are denying the importance of what was said that night and going back to normality once more. Daldrey’s interpretation leaves Sheila and Eric on the street as they are choosing not to forget, and they do realise the seriousness of the night’s events. Sheila can’t get over the fact that they may have caused a young woman to kill herself, and so, refuses to carry on as normal and go back inside the house for a drink. She said ‘But you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really had happened. If it didn’t end tragically then, that’s lucky for us. But it might have done.’ She is telling them that she still feels guilty for what she did, despite the fact that the woman didn’t actually die. It makes no difference to Sheila.
Mister Birling shows no remorse to what Sheila has said. He points at Sheila and Eric and imitates the inspector on his final speech saying ‘You all helped to kill her’. Birling is making a mockery of the whole thing. Despite the fact that he is scaring Sheila with his smug attitude, he persists to make a joke of it telling her that she will have a good laugh over it yet. Apart from Sheila and Eric, the rest are pretending that everything is as it was before.
In Daldrey’s interpretation, Sheila is not just addressing her family but she is directing this speech at the audience as well, just as the inspector did; showing that we can all learn something from this. She continued to talk about the inspector and how he made her feel. She described her feelings as ‘Fire and blood and anguish’- these are strong war related words, and her feelings are emphasized by using three words together to describe the way she feels. She told her family that the way they talk frightens her, Eric agrees with her.
At the end of the play, the phone rings, and Mr Birling receives the news that a girl had died after swallowing disinfectant, and a police inspector is on his way round to ask them some questions. It is here that they feel the guilt of what happened that night. We are put in the position of being back at the beginning of the play again.
-Daldrey interpreted this scene dramatically. A man came to the Birling’s baring news that the girl had died. At this moment, Sheila and Eric are still on the street and the rest of them are in the house. When they hear the news, The Birling’s house swings open; Dramatic music is playing to emphasize the mood and a cloud of mist appears adding to the atmosphere. This relates back to the beginning of the play once more, when the house opened as the inspector arrived. The house is then destroyed and the curtain falls. When the curtain comes back up, we see a bright blue sky in comparison to the dull sky previously. This could symbolise a new beginning.
Hannah Aspin
