‘You’re behaving like an hysterical
Child tonight’
In the beginning of the play you can instantly see that the Birling family are of a high status through the setting and
‘You ought to like this Port, Gerald’
Port was an expensive alcohol and so this shows that this family are not working class. This also shows how inferior Birling feels to Gerald as he tries to show Gerald that what his family can afford so can the Birling’s.
As the night progresses all the women leave the scene and the patriarchal society is shown. Gerald, Eric and Mr Birling are the only people in this scene. Birling speaks to Gerald with respect and treats his own son with none. Birling once again goes into a conversation telling each of them how good Capitalism is and how each man should look after himself and dismisses anything which Eric has to say about the matter. This conversation is again interrupted by the doorbell which signalling the arrival of the inspector. As the Inspector comes into the scene Edna is told to brighten up the room and this creates a setting of interrogation and exposure of the characters. The Inspector is in a dark suit and creates an intimidating impression. This causes none of the characters or even the audience to question the Inspector, as this would be the typical image of an inspector.
At first none of the characters knew why the inspector had chosen to come and interrogate the Birling household, but then it all becomes apparent. Birling is first to be interrogated and comes across as arrogant when he says
‘I was an alderman for years and
Lord Mayor for two years, I know the
Brumley police office pretty well’
This is said by Birling in an attempt to intimidate the Inspector. However he fails to. The Inspector goes on to tell Birling of the reason for the interrogation and uses emotive language to get some emotions from Birling
‘She was in great agony’
But this fails and instead a shocked involuntary response from Eric is shown. The inspector uses this language a lot during the play to constantly remind the audience of the girl’s death. This evokes sympathy from the audience. Birling gets very impatient with the Inspector and when he learns of his involvement in the Eva Smith’s suicide he says
‘I can’t accept any responsibility’
This shows that Birling has no remorse. Birling is not used to being answered back by anyone and so is shocked when the inspector does so, he then tries to intimidate the inspector the only way he knows how to. He shows his connection to the chief constable
‘Perhaps I ought to warn you that
He is an old friend’
This is a desperate attempt to intimidate the inspector, but the inspector does not feel intimidated by this.
In this scene Priestly shows how important the youth are and how important it is to listen to them. Eric disagrees with what his father did to Eva Smith and feels that he should not have done this
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages’
This shows that Eric cannot be for capitalism and Priestley uses him to be the voice of him and the audience.
When Sheila is brought into the interrogation the inspector uses descriptive language to emphasise what happened to the young woman
‘Several hours in agony’
The inspector says this to trigger an emotion from Sheila and once again Priestly shows that the youth are wiser and more considerate than their elders as Sheila says
‘Oh- how horrible’
This shows that Sheila felt shocked at the death of this woman Sheila also displays that she has a conscience as she says
‘I can’t help thinking about this
Girl’
Showing that she has a different attitude than her father. Gerald is also displayed to be a younger version of Mr Birling as he has similar views he says
‘It is what happened to her after she
Left Mr Birling’s works that is important’
This shows us that Gerald must have similar views to Birling and this could potentially be one of the reasons why Birling respects Gerald so much. Once Sheila learns of her connection to the young girl she feels remorseful she says
‘I’ll never, never do it again to anybody’
Again Priestley is showing that the youth are wiser. The inspector is pleased by this response.
Gerald also finds he has a connection to the young woman but knows her by another name, Daisy Renton. He complies and is hesitant to discuss what happened in front of Sheila.
Mrs Birling comes across to be like her husband. She begins her interrogation feeling very confident and like her husband, tries to intimidate the inspector. Mrs Birling has no feelings towards the young woman and when she learns of her own involvement to the girl’s death she takes no responsibility and says
‘You’re quite wrong to suppose I shall
Regret what I did’
This shows that she is not remorseful and Priestley through the inspector shows us how stubborn and callous the older people are. Mrs Birling makes matters worst despite being warned by Sheila. Mrs Birling accuses the man who had made her pregnant and says
‘If the young girl’s death is due to anybody
Then it is due to him’
Mrs Birling says this as she feels that there is no connection between the young woman and herself but soon realises that there is. Mrs Birling would not have made this statement if she had known that her son, Eric, was responsible for the pregnancy. Sheila realises that the person responsible could be her brother, Eric and so therefore is constantly telling her mother to stop what she is saying.
When both Mr and Mrs Birling learn of Eric involvement they are in shock. They both refuse to believe that Eric is an alcoholic Mrs Birling says
‘You’re not the type you don’t get drunk’
This displays Mrs Birling’s blissful ignorance towards Eric’s drinking problem and again Priestley shows his feelings towards older people in his play.
Eric already expected to be interrogated once he learned of the woman’s name. Eric was remorseful over what had happened and felt angry towards his mother for not helping the woman.
The inspector makes a speech after the interrogation and this speech seems like a response to what Birling was saying at the beginning of the play. This speech is also the view of Priestley. He uses emotive language in this speech and there is a repetition of the word ‘millions’. He uses this to emphasise the point. He says
‘All entwined with our lives and what
We think say and do. We don’t live
Alone’
This is Priestley’s view. It tells us that everybody has a connection with each other as shown and that we should be responsible for each other. The use of exaggeration and the pronoun ‘we’ creates an effect that we are all connected. In Birling’s speech in the beginning he mentions each man looking after himself so this can be taken as a response.
The inspector also says
‘If men will not learn that lesson
They will be taught in fire, blood
And anguish’
This is a reference to world war two and shows that being like Mr Birling and believing in capitalism will only result in war. Birling mentions this in his speech in the beginning and says that another war happening will not happen. Which both the audience and the inspector can see is incorrect. The inspector’s reference to the war can suggest he is from the future warning them of the dangers of people not being responsible for each other.
When the inspector has gone each character realises that the inspector was not the usual type, as he knew too much about the case. Sheila feels that whether the inspector was real or not does not make a difference, whereas Mr and Mrs Birling feel that it does, as it would mean that their names would be cleared. Quickly Mr and Mrs Birling forget about what has happened and are more concerned about having a good name. Sheila and Eric take responsibility of what happened to this young woman and it does have an impact on them. Priestley shows that the youth are impressionable and so therefore the inspectors impact has remained on them, whereas the elders are not impressionable and so Mr and Mrs Birling quickly forgot what had previously happened.
When the inspector’s identity is checked the Birling’s and Gerald learn that there is no such inspector on the force and that no such woman had been sent to the infirmary. When they learn of this Mr and Mrs Birling are very pleased and encourage Sheila and Eric to celebrate with them but both are disgusted by their parents. At the end of this scene the Birling’s gets a phone call finding out that a girl had just been sent to the infirmary matching their description. This can also help us to suggest that the inspector was from the past coming to warn them.
In conclusion the play conveys a strong political message, which promotes socialism. The inspector was the voice of Priestley and he showed his socialist views through him. Priestley did not agree with Capitalism as he was a socialite and felt that each person should be responsible for one another as we each have a connection. He showed this through this play. Sheila and Eric can be considered to be the view of the audience who would not agree with what Birling is saying, as they know the consequences of this mentality. The fact that the play was set in 1912 and staged in 1946 shows us that both Sheila and Eric must be the views of the audience as the audience would have been through the war and therefore side with the Inspector who is the voice of Priestley as the audience would know the consequences of people being capitalist. Birling is very ignorant and unimpressionable. He refused to listen to what either Sheila or Eric had to say and refer to them as being foolish. Priestley would use the inspector and devices to deliberately interrupt any conversation, which Birling would have on Capitalism, which showed his view. The inspector’s first appearance, which interrupted Birling’s conversation, was the first sign of what the inspector could be of. This showed that the inspector could have come as a warning to the Birling family. The inspector showed several times that he knew more than what an ordinary inspector would know. The inspector could have also have been an inspector of the conscience as each character had a connection to the woman’s death due to something wrong they had done. Although not each character learnt from this. Priestley feels that the youth are very impressionable and so the inspector could be of the supernatural that has come to change the impression on the youth so that they can be responsible for each other. Priestley intended to show people the importance of the youth, as they are very influential he also intended to show how important it is for people to care for one another and not to selfish. This play is relevant for this period of time as the message, which Priestley has shown on everybody caring for one another and how important the youth are can be used for any period of time, as it is the basic ways of maintaining society. The inspector’s omniscience is also created by the mystery, which the inspector created by knowing of the future, his ghostly presence and his advice given at his ending speech.