As the play continues many things are revealed about the characters that were not as they may have appeared.
Mr Birling is a very proud business owner and when Inspector Goole mentions that he gave Eva Smith the sack he thought nothing of it. As far as he was concerned what he did was perfectly acceptable. “I can’t accept responsibility.” Mr Birling is also very talkative; once he begins he is unlikely to stop.
After dealing with Mr Birling the Inspector goes on to talk to Sheila. The Inspector produces a photograph and shows it to Sheila. After seeing this photograph Sheila becomes hysterical and runs out of the room. This leave the audience in suspense, wondering what Sheila has done and how she is involved. When Sheila returns she is very distraught and decides to tell all. Sheila goes on to say she met the girl as an assistant at a store she visited often. She mentions that when she tried on a dress Eva Smith laughed at her because it didn’t at all suit her. Sheila admits that this wasn’t the only thing that made her go on to complain to the manager, she was also very jealous as the girl was extremely pretty.
Out of all the characters involved with Eva Smiths death Gerald was the only one that intended to help her. When the Inspector announced that Eva Smith later on changed her name to Daisy Renton he immediately gave away that he knew the woman by reacting to the name. Despite this blatant giveaway he still attempts to deny meeting her. This is because he had a relationship with Daisy whilst seeing Sheila. No matter how much he tried it was no use, as the Inspector knew most of it anyway. Gerald then went on to tell the truth about meeting her in the palace bar, letting her stay in a friends house and supplying her with food and money. This didn’t last long and she was forced to move out.
Mrs Birling is rude and obnoxious towards the Inspector. When the Inspector asks her a question she feels no need to have to answer. As Mrs Birling does not answer to the Inspector Sheila does instead, eager to find out more. Sheila tries to tell her mother that there is no use trying to cover things up. “I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t yet.” Eva Smith had come to Mrs Birling’s committee desperate for help under the same name as Mrs Birling as she had become pregnant. This is a hint to a twist later on in the story. Mrs Birling strongly believes in social status and this girl was claiming to also be named “Mrs Birling” of a lower class. This could not be accepted. Mrs Birling feels that it is entirely the father’s fault for getting Eva Smith pregnant and he should take full responsibility. She turns down Eva’s cry for help and admits being prejudiced towards her.
Suddenly Sheila begins to cry. She has worked it all out and realised why Eva Smith came to Mrs Birling’s committee with the same name, and who should take full responsibility for Eva’s pregnancy. It all made sense to her, who hadn’t yet been involved with the suicide? It was Eric! This comes as a complete surprise to everyone except for the Inspector. Now that Mrs Birling has found out who is really responsible for the death of Eva Smith she begins to think twice. This shows how little Mr and Mrs Birling know about their son.
Eric is seen as very childish. He is a very heavy drinker and Mr and Mrs Birling are totally unaware of this problem. As the Inspector questions Eric he is unable to give much information as he had been drinking at the time. Eric goes on to tell the vague story he remembers, that he did get Eva Smith pregnant. We are told he steals money from his father in an effort to help her. He doesn’t ask his father for the money, as he is “not the kind of father a fellow would go to when he’s in trouble.” The audience feels both disgusted and sympathetic towards Eric.
The Inspector comes across as a very mysterious character. When you are first introduced to him you notice something strange about his name Inspector Goole. A Ghoul is a name for a ghost and Goole is pronounced in the same way; this suggests that Inspector Goole may not even be human let alone a real police Inspector. This adds a great deal to the play’s story line. Throughout the play you are left with different questions to ask yourself. For example; Who is Inspector Goole and where has he come from? If Inspector Goole isn’t an official police officer why is he there? These questions are just some of many. These questions are brought on after Mr Birling had made a phone call reporting “There’s no Inspector Goole on the police. That man defiantly wasn’t a police officer.”
Once the family has found this out they think nothing of what had just happened. As far as they are concerned they can just get on with their lives as normal, except for Sheila and Eric. Sheila and Eric have both learnt a lesson from what they had just gone through. They both learnt that having people looking after one another as a community and not as family was very important. Unfortunately for them, Gerald and Mr and Mrs Birling hadn’t. This triggered a new phone call informing Mr Birling that a girl had just been brought to the infirmary and a police Inspector was being sent round. This leaves you with the question, “Would this girl have arrived in the infirmary if they had all learnt a lesson from Inspector Goole?”
Priestley attempts to convey a message to the audience, he believes that society should be based on compassion and caring. This is shown by his description of Eva Smith and all the other Eva Smiths and John Smiths out there suffering as she did. Eva Smith and John Smith are just names to represent these people in society, just like the unidentified men that fell in the war all being referred to as John Doe.
The characters that Priestley used were of a stereotypical family, Mr Birling the money, Mrs Birling the wife, Gerald the fiancé, Sheila the daughter and Eric the son. The characters are very simple; each gets their point across and all serving a purpose in the play. These stereotypical characters are useful to Priestley, they show their high status and attitude towards lower classes.
The Inspector successfully conveys Priestley’s message about society. This message about working together as a community is strongly put across. Shortly before the Inspector left, he mentioned to Mr Birling, “Public men, Mr Birling have responsibilities as well as privileges.” This is still relevant today; a good example is in Northern Ireland. The Roman Catholics want independence yet the Protestants want to stay British.
