“…the Titanic… unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable…”
“…you’ll be living in a world that’ll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations and all these silly little war scares.”
The audience would know that the Titanic did unexpectedly sink and those ‘silly little war scares’ developed into a World War, killing millions and millions of people. Because of this, Birling is presented as naïve, arrogant and pompous. He thinks himself superior to everybody else in the room and talks down to his children. He dominates the conversation showing a lot of false optimism.
The free-flowing conversation and the jovial ambience continue until the entrance of the Inspector.
From the moment the Inspector enters the scene, the mood changes. The pink, intimate colour of the lighting changes to a “brighter and harder” lighting. It is important to note this due to the impression that the pink light originally gave us and the impression that this second light is now giving us. The contrasting impressions show what kind of effect the Inspector has by entering. The atmosphere is now more serious and solemn. The Inspector is described as a middle-aged gentleman dressed in a darkish suit of the period. The more thorough details show a man giving off a strong sense of authority.
“He creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”
This could make the Inspector appear quite intimidating, patronizing and perhaps even threatening. The appearance of the character added to the label ‘Inspector’ (having connotations with the law and the police) would be quite daunting to the Birlings. The Inspector speaks carefully and weightily, adding to the sense of authority that the Inspector gives. He also has a ‘habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking.’ The effect of this technique would make the Inspector imply guilt to the person he was talking to. He tends to be very direct, blunt and abrupt in the way he speaks. Goole will manipulate the characters, making the each character confess by means of cleverly accusing them. He often speaks in 2nd person to achieve this:
“She came to you for help…and you not only refused it yourself…you must have known…you slammed the door in her face.”
By speaking in this manner, the Inspector is reinforcing Sheila’s responsibility for Eva’s suicide. This is also showing the Inspector getting emotionally involved in the case and showing his feelings for the way the Birlings and Gerald have treated Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. This is very atypical of an Inspector and therefore this contributes to the Inspector’s peculiarity.
There are all sorts of supernatural, inhuman associations that are attached to Inspector Goole, but one of the most obvious ones would be his name. Because his surname sounds exactly like ‘ghoul’, a word meaning a malevolent spirit of ghost, we begin to question his superficiality.
The Inspector’s name, description and manner with people all adds to the tension that Priestley incorporates into the play. Goole is obviously the driving force of the play; his impetus moves the play on swiftly, dealing with one character at a time and at an appropriate pace. He acts as a catalyst to the process of the characters’ confessions of their involvement with Eva Smith/Daisy Renton; he also encourages them to look at themselves and their actions making them realise what kind of narrow-minded, spoilt and complacent people they are. The process in which the Inspector deals with the inquiry is very structured. The systematic way in which he deals with each character at a time builds tension into the play; as the Inspector gradually unravels each character’s history, the structure appears (on a basic level) that of a ‘whodunit’. Another technique used, which is typical of a play in a ‘whodunit’ genre, is the use of cliff-hangers at the end of each act. The effect that these climaxes have is the vast amount tension, (incorporated into the play for the audience, whose interests are sustained by their desire to find out who is responsible for the death of Eva Smith.)
It will never be known who and even what the Inspector was, and it’s doubtful that Priestley knew this himself, however there are several possibilities to explore. On surface level the purpose of the Inspector was to find out the truth about Eva Smith and then the reader would question was he a real police inspector or perhaps an impostor. But when reading deeper into ‘An Inspector Calls’ we begin to question whether the Inspector was, in his omniscience, something more. There is no right or wrong answer as to why the Inspector appeared at the Birlings that day as it is fictitious play, however one possibility which seems to be considered, (taking into account Priestley’s strong socialist views,) was that the Inspector was no more of an official than you or I; is it possible Priestley’s intension was to make each character realise the consequences of their actions and what effects they have on other people? The Inspector was possibly there is reinforce the drastic effects that their foolish and selfish mistakes had on a young girl and how the string of events, all of which involved a character in the play, led her to commit suicide. Priestley was very interested in the fourth dimension and supernatural time lapses (which obviously have connotations of impossibility attached to both) and it is possible that this is how he could explain the mystery of the Inspector. Inspector Goole becomes very emotionally involved in the case to emphasise the Birlings’ responsibility for the death of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.
Priestley demonstrates his political, socialist stance towards society through the Inspector’s final speech. Goole’s exiting speech leaves the other characters ‘staring, subdued and wondering’. This theatrical point is important because the audience can then realise what kind of an impact the Inspector’s last words had on the characters. His speech is hyperbolic to exaggerate the point Priestley makes. He deliberately makes the point that his words apply to all of society:
“One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths…”
The repeated word ‘millions’ demonstrate Priestley’s view of how every person should be included in society and not just the elite few. He continues to show his views of equality throughout the classes:
“…their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering…We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”
The repeated pronoun ‘their’ (which features in the first half of the speech) contrasts to the repeated pronoun ‘we’ (which features in the second half of the speech). This shows the breaking of the classes to form unity in society. Obviously the content of the quote shows Priestley’s desire for egalitarianism.
References to the war are made to conclude the speech, also used for a hyperbolic effect:
“…then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish.”
This three part list that Priestley has used is very dramatic, powerful and prophetic. Following this, “he walks straight out”. This informal exit is atypical of an Inspector; he has made no conclusion as to who was responsible for the death of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton and has certainly not acted in an appropriate manner. The characters are obviously amazed by the Inspector’s appalling actions, however this does not steer them away from the events of the evening. The celebratory, frivolous, jovial atmosphere that was present at the beginning of the play is now solemn, serious and sombre. It’s not just the atmosphere the Inspector has an effect on; he makes a huge impact on all of the characters in some way of another. The most obvious being Sheila Birling; described as being ‘pleased with life’ and ‘rather excited’, she appears quite spoilt, irritating, naïve and highly-strung at the beginning of the play. She uses words life ‘squiffy’ and addresses her parents as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’; we can deduce from this that Sheila is very young for her age .She frequently makes irrelevant remarks and aggravates her brother Eric. She is evidently content with her fiancé Gerald and especially her engagement rings which she so often shows off:
“Oh – it’s wonderful! Look – Mummy – isn’t a beauty? Oh – darling- (She kisses GERALD hastily.)”
This complacency is only shown at the beginning of the play. The gradual process of the deterioration of Sheila’s arrogance is first shown towards the end of the first act. She shows sympathy for Eva Smith when the Inspector explains of her redundancy from Birling and Company and the effects this had on her life:
“But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.”
This is one of the first times that Sheila abandons her ignorance and begins to consider the consequences of her father’s unjust actions. This quote is something similar to what the Inspector might say. As the first act progresses, Sheila progressively begins to interrogate the other characters and her interest in the case escalates as the play develops. It is not just her interest that grows, her maturity does too; she begins to take responsibility for her actions and attempts to encourage her family to do the same and by the end of the play we see a complete turn-round of the character of Sheila.
Another character that we can see completely turn around is Mrs Birling. Described as a ‘rather cold woman’ and her ‘husband’s social superior’, Mrs Birling appears aloof towards the other family members. Despite thinking highly of her children, she constantly criticises Sheila.
“Now, Sheila, don’t tease him. When you’re married you’ll realize…”
Her supposed superiority does not even begin to deteriorate until the end of the second act. After the inspector reinforces Mrs Birling’s responsibility for the death of Eva Smith / Daisy Renton, she refuses to take responsibility and even tries to pass the blame to her husband.
“…before you start accusing me of anything again that it wasn’t I who had her turned out of her employment – which probably began it all.”
The fact that Mrs Birling has attempted to pass the blame on to her husband demonstrates the effect the Inspector has on the family – he is playing them off on one another. By act three there is a huge amount of friction between the characters – the Inspector has again tactfully made them turn against each other, emphasising just how conceited they all are.
Inspector Goole has such an immense impact on the whole Birling family. Whether it be his daunting appearance, his peculiar mannerisms, his abrasive attitude or his thought-provoking words, Goole changes every character in some way or another, making them all look at themselves and consider their actions. He strips them all of their names, their frivolities and arrogant attitudes until they are nothing but guilt-ridden, remorseful and ashamed. Being the driving force of the play, the Inspector gradually and systematically unravels the truth whilst constantly reinforcing the Birling’s responsibility for the death of the young woman. Priestley’s socialist values are easy to depict through the character of Inspector Goole as he frequently emphasises the importance of unity between the social classes. Personally I think it is obvious that the Inspector didn’t turn up that evening to find out the truth about each character’s involvement with Eva Smith / Daisy Renton, but to make them realise how their complacent perspectives, pompous attitudes and foolish actions can cause the most drastic consequences.