The Inspector only stirs up the truth about the young girl’s life, therefore provoking their consciences, by showing diaries, photographs and letters of the girl, as a constant reminder of her tragic life and death. His constant talk of Eva helps the audience to form a bond of sympathy with Eva and a corresponding hostility towards the Birlings, who are made to appear heartless. “I think it would do us all a bit of good if sometimes we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their dingy back bedrooms”(pp1920). The Inspector therefore draws each character closer to their own hidden truth instead of having to force them to admit the truth. He controls everyone and their actions, he even appears to control what people say. Sheila, who has commented on his mysterious character, tells Gerald “Somehow he makes you” (Act II, p. 37). He knows things are going to happen - He says "I'm waiting...To do my duty just before Eric's return, as if he expected Eric to reappear at exactly that moment.
When the inspector arrives, there is a change in lighting which at once alters the mood of the play. The inspector is a serious investigator; he is extremely commanding and convincing. He is at work, rather than enjoying himself. The stage directions back this up, as they are very detailed “cutting through massively” (p.12), “massively taking charge” (p.28), “With authority” (p.34), “taking charge, masterfully” (p.55).
As the play proceeds, the Inspector’s questioning reveals their real morals and values. The fact that the inspector is not "real" at the end means that the audience has to think about the real meaning of the play. The way he uses information he creates an impression of someone who is powerful. This makes him appear mysterious. He is in command at the end of Act I and the start of Act 2, and the end of Act 2 and the start of Act 3. He is a menacing, unavoidable presence, very much in control. He seems to dominate the other characters: “(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”.
The way the Inspector questions the Birling’s leads the audience to see how arrogant, unkind and intolerant people such as the Birling’s are to their society. The audience sees him as an outsider and not subject to the same influences as other characters. The fact that the Inspector is not real at the end means that the audience has to think about the real meaning of the play. The audience also sees him as a catalyst, as someone who creates the possibility for others to face up to what they have done.
J.B Priestley wanted the Inspector to be a central point for the audience understanding. Priestley wanted the audience to be on the Inspector’s side, as he was presented as a man of great integrity, bravery and was adamant in being swayed away from his moral mission. The audience will identify with him, and will want him to succeed in his task against the Birling’s and Gerald, by admitting their guilt and feeling genuine remorse for their part in Eva's death.
Arthur Birling is described as ‘a heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties.’ This description helps to give an impression of him being a threatening appearance. Mr Birling makes a speech at the beginning of Act 1.
He is very optimistic about the future. Priestley uses dramatic irony to make Mr Birling look a fool. His predictions of the war and the Titanic on page 7 prove that he is not quite as clever as he looks, (“the world’s developing so fast that it’ll make war impossible…..the Titanic….absolutely unsinkable…in twenty or thirty years time you may be giving a little party like this….you’ll be living in a world that’ll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations.”) He labelled the Titanic as unsinkable furthermore the chances of a war taking place as impossible. The play was set before the war, but was published after, so the audience know that Mr Birling is completely wrong. He shows little awareness of the world around him; he is quite complacent. He is boastful and pompous, making boring speeches to the younger people - again because he thinks he has earned the right to do this: “We can't let these Bernard Shaws and H G Wellses do all the talking. We hard-headed businessmen must say something sometime. We’ve had experience and we know” (p.7). Mr. Birling always refers to capitalism (pg. 6, 7), business (pg. 6 "hard headed businessman," 10 "mind his own business") and profit (pg. 14, 15).
The speech by Arthur Birling (page 9) – “when things are so much easier, is that a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself……..a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” differs to the Inspector’s (page 56) – “we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” in various ways. The Inspector’s final speech is more of a statement. It is a moral message. It is also a question which is asked of each member of the audience. His speech has a strange but powerful quality. This is not the language of a policeman. His departing line summarises the play’s philosophy, “We are members of one body…….. then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish,” the Inspector warned them of ‘fire blood and anguish’ if they did not pay attention to what he has taught them. It would seem that the Inspector is implying that the war was sent to punish people for not working together, and at the same time forcing them to do so. The war did break down barriers between classes, and people had to all work for the country; subsequently what the Inspector spoke of was accurate. The Inspector showed that the both wars were the result of attitudes and behaviour such as those powerful and wealthy families like the Birling’s.He tells the Birling family and Gerald what they must learn from the evening. He tells them that we’re not alone in the world and that we are all part of the society. That we can’t go on using people like Eva Smith for our purposes and ignoring the feelings on individuals. People who watch or read this have to recognise that they’re part of a larger group.
However Arthur Birling’s speech is completely opposed to Goole’s. Mr Birling’s speech introduces the theme of the complacent capitalist. His comments to Gerald reveal the play’s central theme “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.” His attitude is stubbornly selfish. Inspector Goole represents the opposite view from Mr Birling that people should look after and care for everyone and have concern for the welfare of others and that wealthy people have obligations to look after those less fortunate than themselves.
Mr Birling’s relationship with his daughter Sheila and his so Eric is not strong. Eric’s reply indicates that Mr Birling was never close to his son, “Because you’re not the kind of chap a man could turn to when he’s in trouble.” This response indicates that things are not going to improve through and after the play. Throughout the play Mr and Mrs Birling treat Sheila and Eric like kids. Mr Birling quotes on page 17 “run along” to Sheila, she says if as Sheila was a little school girl. They do this throughout the play: on page 71 Mr Birling says “well, go to bed then, and don’t stand their being hysterical.” They are once again saying to them things like: go to bed/go away. Towards the end of the play, the young adults start to retaliate, I think they are getting more confidence; they start mouthing off their parents. “You’re pretending everything’s just as it was before” (Sheila Page 71). But even when they are retaliating they still get treated as kids “their over-tired” (Mrs Birling pg 71). She is angry with her parents in Act 3 for trying to "pretend that nothing much has happened." Sheila says "It frightens me the way you talk:" she cannot understand how they cannot have learnt from the evening in the same way that she has. Sheila is seeing her parents in a new, unfavourable light. When Mr Birling threatens Eric in Act 3, Eric aggressively replies: “I don’t give a damn now. At the end of the play Sheila becomes wiser, they both are fully aware of their social responsibility.
Mr. Birling is generally seen to represent the capitalist point of view, and the Inspector the socialist point of view. A capitalist, like Mr. Birling, would say that it isn’t fair that he should have to use his hard-earned money to pay for the health care of other people. At any rate, hopefully you can tell that Priestley was on the side of the socialists. This is obvious because he has made the character of Birling unsympathetic – i.e. the audience doesn’t like him. The long speeches he makes in Act One, referring to the Titanic and communism show how ignorant he is. We, as an informed audience (we know that the Titanic will sink and that communism won’t just go away), realise that he doesn’t know what he is talking about, and he become a figure of ridicule. We don’t believe anything he says.
The Inspector, on the other hand, seems to have a great deal of knowledge about the world, to the point where he actually predicts the world wars: ‘And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.’ Throughout the play, Priestley shows us that the Inspector is right and Birling is wrong. He uses their language to emphasise this, Inspector almost always has control of the conversation and stays calm, whilst Birling gets upset and shows his weakness (‘Look, Inspector – I’d give thousands – yes, thousands’ – Act Three), here Birling came back to money, missing the point. He is forced to realise that this is a situation that he can’t buy himself out of. The Inspector, on the other hand, constantly focuses on the human tragedy of Eva Smith’s death; using gross imagery to remind the Birlings that she was a real person (‘she’d been taken there because she swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course’ – Act One).
Priestley also uses uneasy laughter and accusations between members of the Birling family, such as "unless Eric has done something", in order to build up tension. Priestley uses tension as a dramatic device in order to keep the audience interested and anxious to find out more, and so alert to his socialist message. Priestley also uses repetition in order to build up tension, even before the Inspector arrives Mr Birling keeps hinting that they might have done something wrong, he emphasises "so long as we behave ourselves".
One of Priestley’s reasons for writing ‘An Inspector Calls’ was to make a point about the way people behaved in society at the time. J.B Priestley is leaving the audience to think about society then and now. He uses the Inspector as a representative; he is used a mouthpiece for Priestley’s own socialist views. Through the Inspector, Priestley shows us that being wealthy is not enough, as well as being successful. What that means is that we have to take on responsibilities for others in our society. We cannot have privileges without the responsibility.” Public men Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.” Priestley wants to show that if people look after one another and take collective responsibility in society then we will live in a much healthier cultural climate. I think Priestley wanted the audience to realise socialism is the way forward rather than capitalism. In this way, An Inspector Calls is very relevant in today’s society where people still do need to work together and help others in need.
The play suggests that the Inspector is not a real person. There are many clues in the text that imply this. His identity is a mystery; he is not a real policeman, even though Eric claimed, “He was our police inspector all right” (page 59). He did a good job at making each person admit their guilt. His name Goole sounds like ‘ghoul’, which is someone who has a morbid interest in death. His existence is as a result of the girl’s death. Gerald finds out on his walk that there is no Inspector Goole on the Brumley police force. I think he is a hoaxer or some kind of spirit or ghost. The inspector’s name implies a ghostly or spiritual connection, and with the twist at the end of the play it is obvious that the ‘inspector’ was talking about events yet to happen. Throughout the play references are made to the fact that he ‘knows’, and he does know everything. It may seem he has knowledge of the future because at the end of they play: he stresses “I haven’t much time.” He might know that the real inspector is shortly going to arrive.
The contrast between Arthur Birling and Inspector Goole is successful. Priestley uses the character of the Inspector as a contrast to Mr Birling, and also as a way of sending his socialist message to the mainly middle class audience who have watched the play. Priestley has given Arthur Birling an opposite viewpoint to the inspector. He made the character of Birling unsympathetic; the audience would not like him. In the play we can see a situation of conflict between rich and poor people. Priestley uses Birling to represent the factory owners; Eva is the stereotype of the downtrodden working class girl. The Inspector has come to stand up for her rights and others from her social class, now that she has gone. Priestley uses dialogue to show the difference in opinion between these two social class attitudes:
Birling: “Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the Earth.”
Inspector: “They might. But after all it’s better to ask for the Earth then to take it.”
Mr Birling believes he’s just responsible for himself and his family, but Priestley does not believe that this view of life is right. He was a socialist in his own beliefs, and throughout the lay Priestley uses the character of the Inspector to teach his beliefs to the audience, in contrast with the arrogant beliefs regarding responsibility of Mr Birling.
This is what J.B Priestley was trying to convey to his audience, every single one of us has a chance to turn anything around whenever we want. “An Inspector Calls” is about difference; the difference we can make in ourselves, and the difference we can make in others. Priestley is trying to teach the audience about responsibility for others. I think Priestley used the idea of war to convey his message because it was a major issue when the play was written and everyone would have suffered from it and would care greatly about it. I think that J.B Priestley succeeds in the effect he wanted the Inspector to have on the audience.
