Discuss the dramatic role of the Inspector in J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls".

Discuss the dramatic role of the Inspector in J.B. Priestley’s play “An Inspector Calls”.

“An Inspector Calls” by John Boynton Priestley, was written in 1945, post World War II, but was set in 1912, before World War I. One reason for this is to show the events which have already happened and that the audience already have knowledge of, such as the sinking of the Titanic and the outbreak of the war, this is dramatic irony. This was also a time of great innovation with the Titanic about to make its maiden voyage. The play was set in the dining room of the Birling’s house. The house is situated in the industrial city of Brumley, in the North Midlands of England.

Priestley, the writer of the play, was one of those few people at the time that believed in Socialism and this is shown through his work. No more so when he uses the Inspector to symbolise his feelings towards society at the time. At the time, Classism was at the forefront of society and Socialism was a distant dream for those who dared to share it. Priestley said in his autobiography, Margin Released, ‘I wanted to write and I believed that the world outside classrooms and labs would help me to become a writer… I had just enough sense to know that I must spend at least the next few years trying my hand at it’. Priestley got inspiration and experience before World War I and he said that ‘that set their stump on me’. This implies that the years 1911-14, were the most critical point in his career. After the army, Priestley did what he wanted to do, which was write. To achieve this, he had to go to Cambridge University where he read Modern History and Political Science and successfully completed the courses and earned his degree. His first novel was called The Good Companions, which he wrote in 1929. At 38 years old, he wrote his first play, Dangerous Corner. He wrote many plays in his time such as Laburnum Grove, Eden End, When We Are Married, I Have Been Here Before, Time and The Calways, An Inspector Calls and many more. The play, An Inspector Calls, was first shown in this country in the New Theatre on the 1st October 1946. The London theatre was damaged and not available at the time, Priestley sent the script to Moscow, where it was produced. In 1977, Priestley was made a member of the Order of Merit. He enjoyed this honour until his death at the age of eighty-nine in 1984.

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’, is about an Inspector, called Inspector Goole, who is investigating the death of a young girl called Eva Smith who swallows some disinfectant to commit suicide. The Inspector arrives at the house of the Birlings and interrupts the celebration of the engagement between Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. The Inspector questions every member of the family and Gerald, who in their own different ways, are connected to the death of the young girl. The Inspector brings out all of the secrets that each person has about the girl when he questions him or her. After finishing his questioning, the Inspector leaves the house and they all argue between them about their involvement in the death of Eva Smith. Gerald returns, after going for a walk after the Inspector had questioned him. He tells the family that the Inspector was a fraud, as he met a police sergeant he knew and asked him if there was an Inspector Goole in the force and described him carefully and the sergeant was certain that there wasn’t an Inspector Goole in the force. Mr Birling then calls up Chief Constable Colonel Roberts and asks him about “Inspector Goole”. What Gerald had previously said had been confirmed. Mr Birling says they can get back to the way things were, but Sheila and Eric still felt bad about what they had done and felt they had to live with it, as the others just brushed what they had done aside. The telephone then rings and Mr Birling picks it up, he is then shocked to hear that a girl had died from swallowing some disinfectant and that an Inspector is on his way to question them.

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The play is structured so that it is continuous and all three acts were set at one location, the house of the Birling family. There are no intervals in the Royal National Theatre’s production although there are three separate acts. But the play is suspended temporarily whilst the curtain closes and re-opens. I think that this might have been done so that the audience was able to imagine what it would feel like to be a Birling. It is easy for you to spot a particular ‘scene’ in the play, when you watch it in the theatre, that you ...

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In the Royal National Theatre’s production, the Inspector arrives through the audience and this must have made the audience concentrate on him more, as not many characters in plays arrive on stage through the audience. The fact that he arrived through the audience might have made the audience wonder what his role in the play is supposed to be. Some might have thought that he was from abroad or was a time traveller, in the way in which he was dressed. He paces himself as he walks onto the stage wearing a beige overcoat, a beige hat and is carrying a suitcase. Whilst on stage, he stands outside of the Birlings house and puts his suitcase down and gives a little boy an orange. The little boy is very excited and takes it. As it was post World War II, a child would not have seen this before and excited as he was, he takes it and runs off. Then Edna, the maid, takes gives the Inspector a cup of tea, whilst still being outside of the house. The Inspector has a very strong presence on both the characters and the audience. After watching the play, I have seen that the Inspector is a rather small man, but creates an impression of massiveness on the characters. In Priestley’s book the Inspector arrives at the at the house of the Birling family at the precise moment when Mr Birling is giving a speech to his son, Eric and his son in law to be, Gerald. His speech is about how well the economy is doing, how all the talk of war is ridiculous, how the Titanic is 'unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable' and by 1940 everyone would have forgotten about all the Capital versus Labour agitation’s. In the speech, he also states that it is every man for himself. But in the Royal National Theatre’s version, the Inspector arrives much earlier and midway through the Birling family celebrations.

When I first saw the Inspector, I was surprised by how calmly and slowly he walked onto the stage. After previously reading the play, I was given the impression that the Inspector was very loud, bold and persistent person but I was not given this impression when he first walked onto the stage. When he was on stage outside the house of the Birlings, I was quite puzzled why he was standing there and not knocking on the door and going into the house. But after thinking about it, there might have been several reasons for him doing this. One could be that he might have been standing outside of the house for several minutes to draw attention to himself, so that the audience realises how important his part in the play is. Another reason could be that he was standing there to listen to the conversations that were taking place inside and waiting for the right moment to knock on the door. One other reason could have been to create a diversion away from the rather dull conversations going on inside the house.

The Inspector’s method of questioning his suspects is not really that of a stereotypical Inspector but of one with a great amount of purposefulness. He is more concerned with right and wrong than with what is legal. He has a habit of staring hard at the person he is questioning. The Inspector sees through each character. He forces each character to admit what they already secretly know. He does not have too much of an effect on the older Birlings but seems to tear into the emotions of the younger Birlings and Gerald Croft. The older Birlings could not really care about Eva Smith, they would just like to forget about it and as far as they are concerned they did not play a part in the girl committing suicide. I think that the younger Birlings were weak because the Inspector kept mentioning the Infirmary and how the girl felt from what was written in her diary. Sheila was by far the worst affected by the Inspectors continuous questioning. She said in one sentence, “I felt rotten at the time and now I feel a lot worse.” The Inspector has a short fuse and gets very angry when his questions are not met with answers immediately. He hurries through his questions as though he is working on a time limit. But he also tells the characters that 'if you're easy with me, I'm easy with you' - he has compassion for those who are willing to accept their responsibility, but nothing so simple as forgiveness. After all, 'the girl's [still] dead though'.

The Inspector’s role in the play is rather varied from the beginning to the end. He starts of as a genuine police inspector. But, as the play moves along, and as he starts to see through his suspects, he becomes more vicious towards them. At the end, he seems to have calmed down and tries to make peace, as he has already got the answers that he wanted and feels as though his suspects have suffered enough. I think that the Royal National Theatre’s production did not have any intervals between acts, as they might have wanted the audience to understand the Inspector’s change in attitude as the play progresses. If there were intervals, then the audience probably would not have experienced how he changes his attitudes towards his suspects through the play.

When the Inspector leaves, his final speech was this.

“We are members of one. 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. Good Night.” According to Priestley’s play, the Inspector is giving this, moving speech, to the audience and everyone present on the stage. I think that the Inspector announced his speech to the audience as well as the characters present on the stage as what he is saying everyone should understand and live by. The way in which he leaves the stage is very good and underlines the impact he has on the characters. He walks straight out, leaving them staring subdued and wondering. Sheila is still crying. Mrs Birling has collapsed into a chair. Eric is brooding desperately. Birling, the only active one hears the front door slam, moves hesitatingly towards the door, stops, looks gloomily at the other three, and then pours himself out a drink, which he hastily swallows. I think that Priestley wanted the Inspector to give this speech at this moment as it had all the audience on the edge of their seats and the younger Birlings had realised the consequences of their actions. The Inspector now leaves the stage and I think that the build up to this was excellent. Everyone now was shocked. This was shown in the Royal National Theatre’s version when the Birling’s house collapses.

The audiences’ reaction would largely depend on the time when the play was performed. When we watched the performance we were reminded instantly of the two World Wars. As the story had been set prior to World War I, the audience would have experienced World War II. I think that the Inspectors speech was implying to the audience watching the play after World War II, “You people did not learn anything and did not do the right things so you had World War I. You people did not learn from your mistakes and that is why you had World War II.”

We now come to the question that puzzled many audiences and critics at the time; who is this Inspector? It is one question that the play has left unanswered. After watching An Inspector calls, I am sure it is obvious to any one who watches it that the Inspector is not what he seems at all. At first you have no suspicions of the Inspector, but as the play gradually moves on it slowly dawns on you that the Inspector might be an impostor. Many people have come to different conclusions and this is mine. I think that the Inspector is a time traveller. J.B.Priestley became very interested in the fourth dimension and time. That is why I think that the Inspector may have gone back in time or there might have been a time slip of some sort to make sure that these people new what they had done. It would also explain how he knew about Eva Smith’s death before it even happened. He also asks many leading questions like, “And of course she was worried about it” and “But you took her home again?” He asks these questions as though he already knows the correct answers. Also the way in which he was dressed compared to Mr Birling. His clothes were much too modern in comparison to Mr Birling’s clothes.

It does not matter whether the Inspector was real or not, as he has brought out each character’s secrets and can leave knowing that he has successfully left them with this tragedy on their consciences for the rest of their lives. I think that Priestley was successful at getting his message across to the audience. This is down to how he uses the Inspector and his mysterious approach. After seeing the play, I found it to be very moving, but also had a touch of mystery to it. At the end of the play, it had me thinking whether we humans will ever learn from our mistakes?

By Ricky Singh

10/78