Priestley’s choice of pre-war Edwardian setting was therefore a calculated attempt to draw a parallel between the experiences of the two world wars. He lived with the First World War, “the war to end all wars”, survived it against the odds and then found himself in another devastating war. Priestley felt strongly that there is no point in fighting another war simply to maintain the fact that some good must come out of this and that we should fight for a better society. The play may have been set in the past but its purpose was to look to the future, arguing strongly for a more positive society. It is believed that Priestley intended to make ‘An Inspector Calls’ a contribution to public comprehension, which in its turn, he hoped might lead to a labour victory after the war was over.
The Inspector is said to have been a voice of social conscience as he states ‘we have to share something, if there’s nothing else, we have to share our guilt’. He makes the family realise they should be mindful of their position in society, by not hurting the lower classes.
In these Edwardian times, there was a large division between the social classes; the poor and the wealthy did not interact with each other. There was no sense of consideration or responsibility for each other and the Birling family and Eva Smith are a prime example of the extremes of the rich social class and the poor underclass. The more privileged you are the more socially responsible you should be in society.
Each member of the Birling family are different in character, Arthur Birling is ‘rather portentous’, he believes all his opinions are correct and could never be inaccurate. Because of his status, a high class businessman he has a lot of pride and has an extremely selfish personality only caring about himself, his profit and then his family, not aware of the world and the poorer people around him. Sybil, his wife is rather cold and again like her husband is selfish, she also cannot swallow her pride. We get the idea that she is snobby and a small minded, middle aged woman. Sheila is an optimistic girl, but seems to be following in the mother’s footsteps, until she meets the Inspector. She then changes, and becomes aware of society. There seems to be a sudden change in her. She becomes much more considerate. Eric, Sheila’s brother is characterised as ‘half assertive, half shy’. He’s very keen to put his views forward though is usually drunk most of the time. Lastly Gerald Croft, the son of a wealthy businessman who is arranging to be engaged to Sheila is described as the ‘easy well bred young man about the town’. He seems generous and a sensible, decent man though his behaviour isn’t always so, especially as he was involved in an affair with Eva/Daisy Renton. The Birling family as a whole seem to be rather self righteous and complacent. The first scene of the play begins in a rather interesting way; the family is sitting around a table all happy and content celebrating Sheila’s engagement. The atmosphere is very carefree and joyful. The Birling’s immediately appear to be an upper class family of the time enjoying the evening and the luxury of their wealth. Priestley, is setting the scene for the start of the play, trying to make the characters look like a pleasant, warm welcoming family.
Dramatic irony is used well in this play with Mr Birling’s illusions of the Titanic and the War. We can see these in act 1: ‘no one wants war except some half civilised folks….and why?…there’s too much at stake these days…everything to lose and nothing to gain by war.’
‘The Titanic sails next week forty-six thousand tons…every luxury and unsinkable.’ The play was set before World War 1, but published after, so the audience would know that Mr Birling is completely wrong about the war and the Titanic. This would cause amusement and show Mr Birling is a fool, as Priestley intended.
In the first scene as soon as the door bells rings the atmosphere changes dramatically. At that moment the Inspector enters the scene. The audience might be questioning themselves, who is at the door at such a time? Their views might change when the Inspector enters as it usually means either good or bad news or trouble. The Birlings wonder who this new Inspector is and what his business is at such an hour.
In the play there are many dramatic devices used. When the play is staged, the Birling’s house is very high up this is to represent how high they are in the social ladder, symbolising their status. High social class leads to power, and power eventually leads to abuse of power.
To increase suspension, immediately at the beginning of the play, the Inspector arrives on stage very slowly to increase tension. It seems like he has a strange ghost like aura as he arrives and just stands watching the Birling family in their home. Special lighting and shadows also help increase suspense and tension also with melodramatic music; it helps set the scene to be sinister and powerful.
During this scene the Birling family are having a discussion and Mr Birling is advising his family and telling them of his philosophies of life. How you are always number one priority in life and then family comes second. The repetition of the phrase look after yourself first and grab all opportunities, shows us Mr Birling’s selfish behaviour and he doesn’t even consider anyone else. As the Inspector enters the Birling house, the stage production shows us the house being prised open; we feel it is going to be exposed. He is here to challenge Mr Birling’s philosophy.
The Inspector speaks in very short sharp, simple yet direct sentences, as he first enters, he says very little and doesn’t want to make an immediate judgement. When he first appears on stage, Priestley describes him in terms of ‘massiveness, solidity, and purposefulness’ symbolising the fact that he is an unstoppable force within the play. His ‘disconcerting habit of looking at the person he addresses gives the impression that he sees through surface appearance to see the person underneath, which adds to the dramatic irony. It also gives him thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtfulness of each character’s treatment of the girl.
As he enters he is described as a man in his fifties dressed in a ‘plain darkish suit of the period’ this makes his character seem very prominent, professional, empowering and dominant, especially as he enters, though he might not be a ‘big man but creates an impression of massiveness.’
We realise the Inspector is a mysterious character and his sombre appearance and the news he brings are a contrast with the happy and elegant air of celebration of the Birling family. His name ‘Goole’ gives him this mysterious, disturbing quality- a ghoul is a spirit which takes fresh life from corpses, and we could certainly argue that the Inspector’s existence is a result of a girl’s death. The inspector asks many questions to each family member making them confess to their connections with Eva Smith. Mr Birling doesn’t really care at all about her death and won’t take any blame. This is also the same reaction that Mrs Birling has although she’s even worse. Yet Sheila and Eric are truly affected and feel responsible for her death.
The Inspector is a catalyst in the play; this is one of his roles. He makes the family members have honest conversations and review and develop their relationships honestly. Without him, none of the character’s secrets would ever come out into the open, for a variety of reasons. Mr Birling can’t see that he did anything wrong or memorable in a sacking a troublemaker; Sheila thought her rather spiteful jealousy of a pretty shop assistant was not ‘anything terrible at the time’. Gerald needed to conceal his involvement with the girl from a jealous fiancée. Mrs.Birling is too cold ever to have known what the girl was feeling and her effect seems lost on her. Eric had resorted to theft, which he too needed to conceal, yet each character is punished in an appropriate way.
Mr. Birling is solely worried his family’s reputation will suffer at the inquest when he hears of Mrs.Birling part in the girl’s death. Though he is more concerned about how to ‘cover up’ Eric’s thefts, as he is so worried that ‘there will be a public scandal’ and so he is concerned about how to put these problems right. Sheila feels shame for her selfishness; Gerald had his affair revealed in front of Sheila. Mrs.Birling has her illusions about the respectability of her family shattered by Eric, and Eric is revealed before his indulgent parents as a spoilt and inadequate young man ‘that drinks around the town’. Though in each case the punishment is a consequence or their own behaviour. The Inspector himself doesn’t bring punishment from outside, perhaps that is why they are given another chance at the end of the play. Their experience should be a warning to them and that next time, it is the future predicted by the Inspector’s final speech that lies in store for them. Without the Inspector purposefulness each character could not or would not have acknowledged their part behaviour. The Inspector is seen as a voice of reason though he is able to control the family and is very intimidating when he tries to prove each character. He seems single mind in his line of investigations and straight forward, yet also determined to seek the truth and confessions.
The Inspector’s role in the play is a very important one. There are several reasons, the first being; he opens up the character personalities with his questioning. The Inspector leads the character to confront their own weaknesses, which makes them feel shocked and guilty. Also, he is supposed to be the good character in the play. We realise he is the catalyst for the evening’s events. The Inspector performs a very important speech that covers the entire message. The speech is very powerful and dramatic it is quite similar to a political speech. The reason it is so dramatic and powerful is because of the use of ‘ we and us’ and memorable phrases like ‘fire and blood and anguish’ we can see this at the end of Act 3: ‘we don’t live alone, we are members of one body, and we are responsible for each other’
‘ If men will not learn this lesson they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish’
What Priestly is trying to get across here is that we need to use collective responsibility in order to maintain peace in this world. If we don’t, then it could result in war, because personal suffering or, as in this case, someone committing suicide. I think the speech would have been performed as so very serious with a community tone, spoken slowly and carefully so it produced a dramatic affect. This way Priestley’s aim would come across in a good way. The Inspector speech would have provoked much discussion amongst the Birlings, yet, this left the Birlings subdued and wondering exactly what the inspector’s speech really meant.
His role in the play is not simply to confront each character with the truth, but to force each character to admit the truth they already know. He works methodically through the characters present at the time ‘one line of enquiry at a time’. This happens when the Inspector is showing Mr Birling the picture of Eva Smith, and Gerald asks the Inspector to also see the picture, but the Inspector refuse, as ‘otherwise there would be a muddle’. Given the chance all the characters are quick to defend each other, or would call upon outside help, in order to avoid accepting the truth to what he suggests. For example when Gerald is asked how did you know Daisy Renton, Gerald replies sharply and says ‘what makes you think I knew her’. Though he gives himself away as soon as her name is mentioned. Throughout the play he demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others, his views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech. Responsibility is one of the play’s two key themes, and the Inspector is Priestley’s vehicle for putting across his own views as a Socialist. His words are a warning to the audience in 1945 and not to repeat the selfish mistakes that led to the ‘fire blood and anguish’ of the two World Wars and the years between them. We realise how he speaks weightily with great power and dominance.
The Inspector is like a storyteller or narrator, without him, the story would be incomplete, he fills in the gaps and puts the whole story together. Also, he is a bit like a father confessor, a priest making the characters confess and repent their sins and acknowledge their guilt. He tries to help the characters to find courage to judge themselves and learn from their mistakes, so they can change themselves.
Many times in the play and especially at the end of the play the characters and the audience tend to wonder who this Inspector is. It is obvious to realise he isn’t a stereotypical police officer as his behaviour, his attitude and way of communicating opposes the idea. If he is not a real Inspector, what is he? A clever impostor? At the end of the play Sheila even says ‘who was that man?’ The personification of the social conscience the characters all lack or suppress? A supernatural, god like being, for he certainly seems to know what all the characters have done without being told. Some have suggested that he is the spirit of the dead girl's child, who has come to torment the conscious of the characters. There are many interpretations of who the Inspector could be. Priestley did not want to give a concrete interpretation of who the Inspector is he left it a mystery. He didn’t give the audience or the characters an idea of who or what the inspector was to give it a dramatic affect and so only assumptions can be made. Another interpretation of him is that the inspector is J.B Priestley who helps to fill in the missing links of the story, and it is what the author would have done in the situation.
I think Priestley’s main message of the play or his aim was to explain to society that if we are like the Birlings then we need to change, and be more considerate towards others. ‘We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other.’ This particular quote, sums up exactly what Priestley was trying to get across, mainly to the post war audience. He may have experienced difficulties during this time, this may have led him to believe that in order to live in a peaceful world we must consider responsibility to fellow men.
Personally I believe that this would have made an impact on its audience, the message was very poignant considering the country had just suffered a Second World War. Priestley wants to bring awareness of responsibility and bring humanity and fellowship to the world around us. The Inspector’s role is effective as he brings about the change and makes a sense of justice. Priestley putting himself as the inspector was also very effective; his function was to change the characters for the better and his greater message is to bring social awareness to the post war audience and maybe steer them to vote for a new government. In today’s society it teaches us a strong message about responsibility and consideration for others.
