As the well-off family are celebrating a knock is heard at the door, Edna the servant then walks into the room and announces that there is an inspector wanting to see the family. This also creates the suspense as it leaves the audience wanting to find out what an inspector has to do with this aristercratic family.
Berling doesn't take the inspectors visiting to seriously at first which also shows irony. We know this because after Gerald say's "that could be awkward", Berling's line is "(humerously) very". As the inspector enters he isn't a large man but he creates an impression of massivness, solidity and purposeness. This impression is created by the other characters reactions, such as Berling who goes silent and Edna, who quickly leaves without saying a word. According to the stage directions, the inspector should be in his fifties and dressed in a plain dark suit. This creates an mysterious atmosphere, almost as if he had no identity. The inspector also takes a long hard look at the person he is about to talk to, like he could read there minds and their thoughts, which also adds to the atmosphere, as do the long silences while he is
looking.
The inspector starts by asking simple questions, like "Mr Birling?". This puts Berling under preasure and so he starts to ask the inspector questions. The inspector realises this and so he manages to find out Berling's dark past. By the end off this conversation the inspector has found out that Berling had sacked Eva Smith from his factory, just for asking for a small pay rise! This comes as a shock to the family as Eric (Berling's son) quotes "My God", and often makes excuses of why his father didn't have to sack her. Could Berlings actions have caused Eva to kill herself?
Once the inspector has finished with Berling, He starts to question Sheila, who is still shocked at her father. Sheila eventually realises that she also knew Eva, but not as a friend. The inspector explains that Eva had a knew start and somehow makes Sheila own up to getting her sacked from a shop that she had started work in. She did this by blackmailing the manager, all because she thought that Eva was prettier than her. Maybe she caused Eva's
death?
By this point in the play, the inspector has started two members of the family thinking of their actions, but more importantly, has made the audience think.
As soon as the questioning with Sheila is over, Gerald tries to let Sheila go, but the inspector makes all the family stay, even when Eric uses the excuse that he has a headache and needs to go to bed.
The inspector begins to question Gerald, who soon brakes up and confesses to having an affair with Eva smith (behind Sheila's back) who by this time was known as Daisy Renton.
Not long after that, Sheila is even more upset and Gerald is feeling guilty because he had set her up with a house, made it seem like he wanted a relationship, and then deserted her.
At this point everyone in the play is seeing things from a different point of view, and is seeing the other side of there families personalities. Is this what the inspectors goal was? And did Geralds actions lead up to Eva's desparate suicide?
But the inspector hadn't finished yet. He went on to question Mrs Berling, but by this point Sheila has realised what the inspector is doing. She tries to stop him but is unsuccessful and starts to have doubts on the whole event. Sheila is feeling what Priestly wants the audience to feel. The inspector then continues to question Mrs Birling, and soon discovers, and makes clear to the rest of the family and audience, that Mrs Birling isn't any better than the rest off them. As the questioning is continued, it is revieled that Mrs Birling is part of a group that helps women in need. Mrs Birling is at the top of this organisation and decides who to, and who not to help. The story unfolds to reviel that Mrs Birling choose not to help a poor woman in need simply because she had the same name as her. This younger Miss Berling who needed help was non other than Eva Smith. Eva had been struggling for a while when she ran into Eric. The inspector soon started to question Eric, had met Eva a few times and had made her pregnant, and to help Eva out he had stolen money from his father. Eva found out that it wasn't his money and so she did not accept it. Thats when she went to Mrs Birlings organisation for help. She used the name Birling because it was the name of her childs father, but Mrs Birling did not know this and so refused to help her.
After this part of the play there were no more question, and the inspector left in a normal fassion. The familly then tried to make excuses about the inspector and about Eva Smith. "Perhaps the inspector was a hoax" is what Birling surgested, after all no-one had ever heard off him before.
The inspector plays a huge role in this play. His part leaves you thinking about your own atitude, which is what Priestly wanted to do. The family never new if the inspector was real or not, but they learned their lesson, which is the moral of the story. Think about the consiquences of your actions.
Perhaps the inspector was a ghost or a warning of some sort. I think this because of his name, the way he dresses, his questions and the way he knew so much about what happened. It is as if he didn't need to go and ask questions because he already knew the answers, maybe he just wanted to get to them. He seems to know what people are going to say and how it will effect others. The inspector could have caused the family to split up completely, but Priestly choose to keep the fictional family together, which to the audience shows that we should learn to forgive one another.
Priestly also choose to write about a well-off family and a poor girl to show that we are all as good as one another, and should not think that anybody is more important than anybody else.
All these points and views are only there because the inspector brought them up, which is why 'Inspector Goole' plays such a huge role in this play.
