The Inspectors role in An Inspector Calls.

Authors Avatar
The word Inspector suggests someone who looks closely at things, and this is his role in the events of the play. This, and the fact that Priestly recognised the Birlings would almost certainly have refused to be questioned by a common policeman, is probably the reason why the person to bring the news of Eva/Daisy's death is portrayed as an inspector.

The Inspector is never given one specific identity, but there are some which would suit his character. The Inspectors name 'Goole' sounds the same as ghoul- someone with a morbid interest in death or a spirit which is said to take fresh life from corpses, and it is certainly arguable that the Inspectors existence is a result of Eva/Daisy's death. It is there fore possible to see him as a representative of Eva/Daisy, returned to the Birlings in spirit form to 'haunt' the consciences of those who have procured her death.

Inspector Goole is also a version of a traditional policeman: intrusive, commanding, polite but impatient when necessary. The twist in the situation is that nothing has occurred that would bring any of the family to a court of justice. His character has been devised in such a way to fit in with a scenario, a murder. It is because of this that he has to appear to be an Inspector and not an impersonator. He also has a moral dimension which distinguishes him from an ordinary police inspector: he is more concerned with what is right and wrong than with what is legal. For example, he sternly tells Birling that " it's better to ask for the earth [ as a worker might do ] than to take it [ which Birling does ] ".

The Inspector could also be the personification of the social conscience the other characters all lack or suppress. He often plays the voice of conscience, his familiarity with what each character has done goes beyond what any investigator might reasonably be expected to know. Things that they concealed from eachother- even from themselves- are brought to surface at the Inspectors insistence. Priestley intentionally leaves the provenance of the figure of the Inspector unexplained, his real identity a mystery. This is more effective than any clarification would have been because to reveal that the Inspector was, for example, a practical joker ( as the Birlings hope) or that he was a sort of 'avenging spirit' would ruin the effect the Inspector has on the audience.
Join now!


The effect the Inspector has on the audience is as important as the effect he has on the characters in the play. This is because of what he represents; the conscience of not only the characters but of also the audience.

Through the Inspector Priestley presents us, the audience, with a sincerely felt and powerfully expressed social message. We are shown the comfortable home and rich way of life of the Birling family. By contrast, we have the accounts of the desperate attempts of Birlings factory workers to increase their poor wages, and the drab and sordid ...

This is a preview of the whole essay