experienced. For example, when he talks about the “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
Titanic and dismisses the threat of war – “I say there isn’t a chance of war”, it is ironic
that these things actually come to pass, and the reader and audience are aware of it,
therefore projecting Mr. Birling as a hypocrite. It is therefore implied that it is tragic to
have someone as stupid and narrow minded as him in such a position of power.
Although Mr. Birling thinks of himself quite highly, his views on moral responsibility
are strictly unjust; he has no conscience, and dismisses any suggestion that he should
show remorse towards his employees - “If you don't come down sharply on some of
these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth”. As well as this, the only person he
feels he should help when they are in need is himself - and money is the way to do it.
His only show of sorrow for Eva's death is momentary, and again routes from money -
“Look Inspector - I'd give thousands – yes, thousands”.
Overall, Birling is a gluttonous, egotistical, pompous, insensitive, complacent,
cowardly and stupid man who throughout the play is presented as hopelessly incapable
of learning the moral lesson taught by the Inspector.
Inspector Goole knocks on the door just when Arthur Birling is making a speech to
the rest of the family about how “a man has to make his own way … so long as he does
that he won’t come to much harm”. He also dismissively mentions that “by the way
some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after
everybody else”. I feel that the reason the Inspector calls at that specific time is to
ultimately prove Birling wrong, and try to show him that we are responsible for each
other in this world, and how you cannot escape the fact that ‘what goes around, comes
around’.
Birling is quite outraged at the fact that the Inspector has rudely interrupted their
dinner party, and he constantly attempts to tackle the Inspector with petty little
comments: “I ought to warn you that [Colonel Roberts] is an old friend of mine, and
that I see him fairly frequently. We play golf together”. Birling continually tries to
intimidate him by mentioning his apparent authority, and patronises the Inspector -
“look here, Inspector. I consider this uncalled-for and officious. I’ve half a mind to
report you”. Again, Birling’s pompous personality shines through, but the Inspector
seems to take it in his stride and merely brushes off the comments that Birling throws at
him: “I don’t play golf”. I feel that Priestley decided to portray Arthur Birling as taking
the Inspector’s arrival quite badly to demonstrate just how shallow and thick-skinned
society can be, and how we cannot easily accept our mistakes. The Inspector is the one
in the play who brings us back down to Earth and makes us realise that.
As well as being the messenger, Inspector Goole is also the strongest character in the
play, maintaining complete control of the situation at hand and demonstrating his
authority frequently. It’s not just his dialect that depicts this, but also his overall
persona, which is shown through the stage directions - “he creates at once an
impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness”, and it comes across to the
audience and reader in an array of different ways.
For example, the stage directions repeatedly show the Inspector “cutting through
massively”, ”cutting in massively”, “massively taking charge”, “with authority” and
“taking charge, masterfully”. This demonstrates to both the audience and reader that the
Inspector has the authority to interrupt people without reason, and take charge of the
conversation. He dominates the other characters, even Mr and Mrs Birling, who are used
to commanding and others obeying: “(As Birling tries to protest, turns on him) Don't
stammer and yammer at me again, man. I'm losing all patience with you people.” After
this outburst, Mrs Birling is “rather cowed”.
Aside from his rather terrifying outbursts, the Inspector remains calm and collected
throughout the play, though he sometimes speaks “coolly” and “imperturbably”. The
language he uses is often blunt and sometimes deliberately harsh so as to gain a
reaction from the Birlings, reader and audience: “Two hours ago a young woman died
in the Infirmary. She'd been taken there this afternoon because she'd swallowed a lot of
disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course.” This kind of emotive language is sure to
trigger signs of emotion in the Birlings, and once again illustrates the effect the
Inspector is having on the family - once the initial shock has seeped in, the Birlings are
too stunned to deny anything about their involvement with Eva Smith/Daisy Renton,
although they did frequently dismiss any knowledge they had about the girl as just
coincidence. However, I felt the Inspector overcame these problems with ease.
The Birlings, especially Mrs. Birling, refuse to accept responsibility for Eva’s death -
“I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at
all”. Realising that she will not remove herself from this train of thought, the Inspector
cleverly turns the tables on Mrs. Birling, luring her into a trap that will consequently
land her son into one of his own: “Secondly, I blame the young man who was the
father of the child she was going to have”. This, of course, is Eric Birling. Unaware of
this, Mrs Birling insists that the Inspector deals with him “very severely”, and is “glad to
hear it” when he grimly agrees with her. When it comes to light that it is in fact her son
who is to blame, Mrs. Birling is stunned - and the Inspector has slyly incorporated her
into the grisly tale, too.
Despite her mother’s ignorance, Sheila Birling is perhaps the most sympathetic of the
family. A perceptive character, she is the first to realise that the Inspector is no ordinary
policeman, and that he has an almost supernatural knowledge: “Why - you fool - he
knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don't
know yet.” Similarly, she is the first to realise that the father of Eva's baby is none other
than Eric, and tries to get her mother to stop insisting that he should be held
responsible: “(With sudden alarm) Mother - stop - stop!”
At the beginning of the play, Sheila is perceived as a character who is quite contented
with her life, and has no reason to worry. However, when the Inspector arrives, her
opinions start to change. Sheila regards the Inspector differently from the others - “she
stares at [Inspector Goole] wonderingly and dubiously”. She begs her mother not to
patronise him - “You mustn't try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl” as
she knows that “the Inspector will break it down”. She warns her mother “He hasn't
started on you yet”, realising that they are all going to be treated in the same way. Her
mood becomes slightly hysterical, also; “No, he's giving us the rope - so that we'll hang
ourselves”. When Arthur Birling remarks that Inspector did not come “to talk to me
about my responsibilities”, Sheila responds, “Let's hope not. Though I'm beginning to
wonder”. She seems to be the only one in the family to perceive that the Inspector is
not just a police inspector, but a spiritual being or emissary with a moral mission to
punish selfish behaviour among the rich and shallow - in this case, the Birlings.
The Inspector’s dialogue also leaves quite an impression on the family, audience and
reader - especially his final speech. This is the most important remark the Inspector
makes in the entire play, as it sticks in the minds of everybody, and ultimately sums up
his role in the production.
Priestley has used a lot of emotive language in this specific passage, such as “hopes”,
“fears”, “suffering”, “happiness”, “blood” and “anguish”. In turn, this causes the
Inspector’s speech to be quite blunt, as the sentences that these words are woven into
are short, abrupt and straight to the point - mirroring the Inspector’s duration at the
Birlings’ residence. As well as this, the Inspector’s speech makes good use of the word
‘we’, uniting the Birlings with the people that they feel they are superior to - poor
people. By the way that the Inspector declares “we are members of one body. We are
responsible for each other”, he makes clever use of the word ‘are’, which in turn
finalises the idea that we are members of one body, and we are responsible for one
another. It is also contradictory to a section of one of Arthur Birling’s speeches: “By the
way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after
everybody else” which is the complete opposite to what the Inspector is announcing.
The passage also anticipates World War One, in the sense that at the very end, the
Inspector says “if men will not learn that lesson, they will be taught it in fire and blood
and anguish” - this, to the Birlings, is a prophetic statement, but the reader and
audience are aware of it as it has already come to pass. To emphasise that idea, the
Inspector lengthens the list of words he mentions; instead of just using a comma
between “fire” and “blood”, he chooses to use ‘and’, which sensationalises the comment
and makes it sound somewhat more important than if he had just normally listed those
specific words.
I feel that this particular speech concludes the Inspector’s reason for being at the
Birlings’ house, and the effect that it has on the audience and reader as well as the
characters is quite similar. The Inspector’s speech shows frequent emotive language to
trigger feelings in the audience, which then reminds them of their own errors in the
past - Priestley’s main incentive for writing this play was to make society realise their
mistakes, look back on them and learn from them; the audience and reader have
already experienced World War One and economic hardship, and so this speech is just a
reminder of what they ultimately got themselves into - it’s like watching their own
mistakes occur in retrospect.
On the stage, this final speech would be greatly important, and a director would have
to think of ways about how to bring across the message to the audience through
gesture, movement, lighting etc. on the Inspector’s behalf. In my opinion, as the
Inspector says the opening words of the speech, “But just remember this”, the lights
should dim on all the characters but him, leaving the Inspector in the spotlight, and
consequently making him the most important person at that time. I would make this
decision because then the audience’s attention is entirely on the Inspector, and anything
he says now will be taken in completely.
Although gestures are important, I feel the Inspector should not make many
movements while saying this speech, as it could deter the audience from listening to his
severe words. However, upon saying this I feel that when he states “We are members of
one body. We are responsible for each other”, he should sweep his arm around to the
other characters, light following his movements as he does so. Therefore, after he has
said that, the Birlings are once again visible and relevant to the play. I feel this effect
would bring the Birlings back into the picture, and the audience could then link them
with the Inspector’s words. Of course, for nearly the entire duration of the production,
the play resembles a whodunit - but this speech finalises the fact that everybody was
linked to Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s death.
At the beginning, ‘An Inspector Calls’ is like a game of Cluedo - somebody dies, a
number of people are questioned in one room with many clues linking all of them with
the person in question and no answer. Priestley gives the play a whodunit genre
because it keeps the audience guessing all the way through the play, and as clues are
solved and stories are unfurled the culprit becomes clearer, but as soon as one thinks
he or she knows who it is Priestley cleverly seems to switch to the inspecting of another
character. This makes the audience engrossed in the action that is happening onstage.
The fact the Inspector interrupts the Birlings’ cheerful dinner party with such a severe
tone contrasts the feeling of happiness with one of foreboding, adding tension to the
play. The characters are confined in a small room, giving the effect of claustrophobia,
and the family have no means of escape from the Inspector’s sharp and curt questions.
Priestley sets the play out like this in order to make the audience and reader realise they
cannot run away from their problems and mistakes - either way, they’ll come back and
haunt them, and have done in the form of the Inspector and his enquiries.
As well as this, the Inspector is portrayed as a real police investigator. Until the very
end, the Birlings believe he is genuine, and apart from Arthur Birlings’ rather petty
comments, the family are anxious around him. Priestley has done this in order to
communicate the Inspector’s message thoroughly - Inspector Goole is shown as a stern,
cutting man with a stern, cutting message; this is illustrated throughout the entire play,
right up until the climax.
The Inspector is a mysterious man who comes and goes without a trace and seems to
have no background. He is a channel for Priestley's views and criticisms on the social
morals of the time, as well as a contrast to the Birlings as he seems to favour
community responsibilities rather than individual ones. Dramatic convention is used by
Priestley on the Inspector by depicting him as someone with only a short amount of
time - he constantly “looks at his watch”, portraying the fact that society was soon going
to come into a world of hardship (World War One).
The Birlings represent the richer people in society that do not care for their fellow
people; for example, Arthur Birling sacked Eva Smith/Daisy Renton for striking for a
higher salary, but the demand was minuscule. They are set so far away from the
community that they did not even realise that she had died, let alone how they helped
to kill her. They find this out only when the Inspector calls and brings it to their
attention.
All of the characters respond to the Inspector’s enlightenment in diverse ways, and
their opinions change throughout the play. Both Mr. and Mrs. Birling cast off their
involvement and fault entirely, whereas the others begin to share the blame - Sheila
being one of them.
With such narrow-minded parents, it is difficult to think differently about Sheila.
However, throughout the play Sheila begins to show more remorse as the Inspector
recites his story. Sheila also contrasts sharply with her parents by the honest and
realistic way she regards things. She says “We really must drop these silly pretences”
and comments that Eric has been “drinking too much for the past two years”. Unlike her
parents, she doesn’t think she’s better than anybody else, and states “we've no excuse
now for putting on airs”. Mr. and Mrs. Birling are shocked by some of Sheila's honest
remarks, because they prefer to live in a world where unpleasant realities are
suppressed or ignored, but Sheila does not try to deceive herself.
The way she is tormented by the impact of what she has done to Eva Smith/Daisy
Renton indicates that really she is an honest and good-hearted person who has been
misled by her own immaturity and momentary selfishness - in contrast to Mr. and Mrs.
Birling, who are selfish and insensitive all the time. Sheila has the courage to admit her
guilt and to speak out honestly, even when she knows this is not considered the right
thing to do by her parents.
Sheila feels genuine remorse for what she did, and passionately believes that they
should learn from the Inspector's visit so as never to repeat such a crime: “And don't
let's start dodging and pretending now. Between us we drove that girl to commit
suicide”. I feel the Inspector’s visit gave Sheila the push she needed to finally defend
herself against her parents, and speak out for what she truly believes in.
Sheila is essentially a good character who, in a moment of uncharacteristic cruelty,
committed an act which she would regret for the rest of her life. Her remorse is
Priestley's way of showing that human beings do have a good side to their nature, and
that if there is hope that people will one day develop a social conscience and awareness
that “We are members of one body”, then it is among the younger generation. But is it
just Sheila - just one of the younger members - who thinks the same?
Eric Birling has sympathy for Eva Smith/Daisy Renton when he hears that she lost her
job in his father’s factory. While Gerald Croft says that Mr. Birling “couldn't have done
anything else”, Eric bluntly states “He could. He could have kept her on instead of
throwing her out”. Soon afterwards he “bursts out”: “Well I think it's a dam' shame” and
shows understanding and sorrow on the girl’s behalf for higher wages.
Eric differs from his father - where Mr. Birling had to work his way up the social
ladder, Eric was born into wealth and privilege, and so lacks the pretentious air that his
father possesses. In some ways this automatic access to wealth has made him turn into
an irresponsible, careless young man; in others, it has at least saved him from the
entrenched selfishness and arrogance which his father possesses, and his sister does
not.
Right from the start of the play, Gerald Croft is portrayed as quite similar to Arthur
Birling, in his views of business and women. He is slightly older than Eric, and seems
far more assured, confident and capable of dealing with awkward situations, though at
the end he does not show the strength of character which Eric (and Sheila) display by
accepting their part in Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s death.
When the Inspector calls, Gerald is quick to grasp his way of asking question, and
realises his affair with the girl in question will soon be revealed. He half-heartedly
attempts to persuade Sheila to leave the room, but after that falls through, seems to
accept the situation. His usual self-assured manner abruptly changes after his affair is
uncovered, and his tone becomes one of dubious acceptance. He seems momentarily
shocked when he realises what he has done - “I've suddenly realised - taken it in
properly - that she's dead”, and after he has confessed, he seems genuinely upset,
speaking “In low, troubled tone” while the Inspector was in the vicinity. He tries to
exculpate himself to the Inspector, saying that he let her live in his friend's flat “because
I was sorry for her” and that “I didn't ask for anything in return”. The Inspector merely
responds with “I see.” However, Gerald is undoubtedly speaking more honestly and
openly than he has ever done - though only because he now realises he has no
alternative. Thus, his repentance is severely compromised, and later, after he has
proved that the Inspector was not in fact a `real' policeman, his remorse evaporates,
and he is only too willing to “pretend everything's as it was before”. He says
“Everything's all right now, Sheila” - choosing to ignore the ‘minor’ detail of his own
betrayal of his fiancée, which certainly sets him apart from Sheila - she was only too
keen to not forget her encounter with the Inspector.