The Inspector is described as creating ‘an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness… and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’. This makes the Inspector stand out as a very important person, with great authority, and makes the characters feel uneasy. It also shows that he is there for a reason; perhaps to make the family change their ways for the better.
From the beginning of Act Two the Inspector has control over the family; they are fragmenting and beginning to disintegrate, openly criticizing each other. Priestley starts the Act with the Inspector talking about Sheila’s responsibility and plays on her moral conscience. She cannot suffer alone; she needs to know others are responsible. We start to see a difference in tone toward Sheila from the Inspector as he realizes that he has got through to her and changed her way of thinking, he is more sympathetic and understanding of her position. Sheila wants to know more about him “… (She goes close to him, wonderingly.) I don’t understand about you… He regards her calmly while she stares at him wonderingly and dubiously.”
When Mrs. Birling enters at this point she is completely ignorant of what has been going on. Unlike her daughter she is unaware of the role of the Inspector and believes to be superior; cold and confident of her place in the social hierarchy. She builds up a wall and Sheila is alert to this so tries to stop her “Stop it please-Mother.” As the Inspector reveals the part Gerald played in Eva’s life the audience can see how the Inspector is very much in control and gets the characters to admit things, some that he perhaps did not know. He uses their guilty consciences and “Somehow he makes you” (p.37) reveal the truth.
As the Act progresses the Inspector begins to makes longer speeches and some of his feelings seem to creep into them. This is a reversal of when he first arrived, as at the start each speech from the Birling family was made long and relaxed, however now they are all panicking and so they speak in short hurried sentences with more use of dashes and commas e.g. Mrs.B-“Certainly. And he ought to be dealt with very severely – ❞ Sheila-“(with sudden alarm) Mother – stop – stop!
Birling-“Be quiet, Sheila!”
Sheila-“But don’t you see-❞ (p.48) This adds a dramatic effect as it makes the audience aware of how badly the Inspector is really worrying the family. He uses more emotive and persuasive language that hits the family hard in the triadic structure - “friendless, almost penniless, desperate” (p.45). The aggression is building in the Inspector, he is angry at the family.
As the Inspector interrogates Mrs. Birling we find how her views are much the same as Mr. Birlings. She was prejudiced against Eva who came to her committee for help when she was desperate, and is cornered into shifting her blame from the role she played in Eva’s death, onto the father of Eva’s child “If the girl’s death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him.”(p.45). The tension builds as Mrs. Birling tries to shun her responsibility and is unaware of what is going to happen next. Also, Priestley made it so that the Inspector interrogated Mrs. Birling before Eric, when if in the correct chronological order it should have been the other way, to create suspense. The implications become clear, everyone is involved. Eric is the father of Eva’s child.
By the end of this Act the Inspector has full control over the family and there is a reversal of roles. The Inspector is the one giving the orders, even a silent hand gesture manages to silence the family. Mr. Birling is no longer bombastic but worried; he looks a fool and cannot express himself. He has lost his authority and shows fear at finding the truth out of his control. “Don’t stammer and yammer at me again, man.”(p.46). The Inspector has had a dramatic effect on Sheila especially, and Gerald whereas the older generation, even though badly shaken, still don’t quite seem to grasp the concept of the Inspectors presence.
In Act Three Eric returns and the whole story is revealed. Realisation finally dawns for the Birling’s, especially for Mrs. Birling who thought her family was above any scandal like this and the audience can begin to sense the alienation of Eric from the family. The Inspector interrogates Eric and shows his foreknowledge by telling half the story for him. As Eric discloses his side of the story it fills in the gaps that had been left by other members of the family. As this happens the Inspector starts to bring together all the main points morals of the play, how we are all responsible for each other and if we don’t realize this it will end in disaster. During the play the Inspector makes a lot of references to the word ‘responsibility’, he seems very preoccupied by this idea (p.29) “She feels responsible. And if she leaves us now… she’ll feel she’s entirely to blame, she’ll be alone with her responsibility, the rest of tonight…” They climax in the Inspector’s final speech.
JB Priestley is portraying his socialist views through the Inspector and attacking the upper classes in this play. His final speech is like a politician’s and is not only directed at the characters on stage but at the audience too. He leaves them with a simple message to think about: “One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do.”(p.56) He uses repetition trying to emphasise the widespread nature of this girl’s dilemma. She represents a whole class of people. The use of abstract nouns brings home the point that they are human beings and have to live through the same experiences as everyone else. We are “all intertwined with our lives” like the chain of events; suggests we are all linked, intertwined with each other, our choices, “what we think and say and do” affects others in society. There is use of personal pronouns, “our lives”, which reminds the Birling family that they are all in it together; and “We are responsible for each other” draws on the dramatic emphasis of responsibility used throughout the play. Priestley uses short statements such as “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” as these stick in the listeners memory. But he also uses complex sentences. “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.” This statement is prophetic for the Inspector as it is referring to the First World War, but for the audience it is referring to both World Wars and saying how this is the consequence of selfishness and not accepting responsibility.
The ending of Act Three leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. The Birlings believed themselves to be off the hook when it is discovered that the Inspector wasn’t real and no girl had died in the infirmary. This releases some of the tension – but the final telephone call announcing that a real Inspector is on his way to ask questions about the suicide of a young girl, suddenly restores the tension very dramatically. It leaves the audience wondering whether the Birling family have learnt anything and will confess to knowing Eva Smith, or will keep the truth hidden. It is an unexpected final twist.
JB Priestley uses the Inspector as an ‘embodiment of a collective conscience’, representing the conscience of the Birling family and raising awareness of the personal guilt each family member holds.
In some ways you could say that the Inspector resembles a detective of crime fiction, like Sherlock Holmes for example. He is unusually intelligent and seems to possess knowledge which keeps him one step ahead of the other characters, for example, he says “I’m waiting…to do my duty” just before Eric returns as if he was expecting him to reappear at that exact moment. The Inspector is an eerie and almost supernatural character who always has an air of mystery about him, and he seems to be omniscient (all knowing).He seems to know things about them that no-one else would know, as if he was inside them acting as their conscience making them think about what they have done and making them feel guilty, for example how each character contributed to Eva Smith’s death. This is shown through the Inspector’s attitude and the other characters responses; (Inspector) “And so you used the power you had to punish a girl just because she made you feel like that?” (Sheila) “If I could help her now I would”. (p.24). He knows all about Eva Smith’s past life and what the Birling’s have done and never seems surprised or shocked by what he hears. Even though the Inspector is supposed to be a police officer he always seems more concerned about morality than legality, for example he doesn’t make a single move at finding out that Eric has been stealing.
Overall I can see that Inspector Goole is ‘an embodiment of a collective conscience (Gareth Lloyd Evans) because he is there to represent the characters’ conscience and make them think about what they have done in the past, and make them feel guilty. Not only does he represent the consciences of the characters but Priestley has written it so that it makes the audience question their own conscience and the way they treat others. The Inspector is mysterious and seems quite supernatural, so it makes you wonder if he is real at all. This should support the idea that he represents their conscience because if he was a real person how would he know all that information about each character.
Therefore I think the Inspector is the voice of all our consciences especially Priestley’s and he was trying to teach the characters and the audience about how to treat others and take responsibility for their actions.
