Jonathon Wardman

GCSE English: An Inspector Calls

The following essay was written for my GCSE English course in June 2000 and relates to the J.B. Priestley play “An Inspector Calls”.  It’s released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

Who or what is Inspector Goole, and what is his role in the play?

The character of Inspector Goole can be explained in many ways.  It is thought, that he could be a ghost, an angel (sent from God to deliver the truth), a psychic (able to see the future), or simply just a socialist “Crank” – this is what, in fact, the characters in the play believe towards the end, as Mr. Birling says, “That fellow obviously didn’t like us.  He was prejudiced against us from the start.  Probably a socialist or some sort of crank – he talked like one.”

Each and every one of the different explanations of who Goole could be can be explained; those who say that he is a ghost, believe that this is what Priestley wanted us to think.  At the end of the play it is discovered that Inspector Goole does not actually exist, that if he is a real person he does not work for the police, and the fact that he knew how each member of the family had been in contact with Eva seems a little unreal, or supernatural – like a ghost.  Also by giving him the name of Goole, he suggests it from the first time he enters.  It is thought that he never actually existed, but is supposed to be ‘the voice of their conscience’ and by asking each one of them about their relationship with Eva Smith he is making them think of how each one of them is to blame for her death – The inspector says to Mrs. Birling, “She came to you for help…And you not only refused it yourself, but you saw to it that others refused it too”.  It is thought that following Mr. Birling’s capitalist speech at the start of the play, each character is set off thinking of how, fundamentally, this is not true.

Another explanation given is that Goole is an angel sent from God to deliver the truth about the Birlings’ lives.  It could be said that he has been sent to this family to make them realize their wrong doings and to make them change their lives before it is too late.  This idea is supported by the fact that Mr. Birling is in the middle of his capitalist speech when Goole first arrives, and that this timing is ideal for the maximum impact upon the family – that by giving the news of Eva Smiths’ death at this time would make them think about their situation.  It is argued that if he was simply a “Crank” he would not have been able to arrive at that exact time, so therefore he must have been sent from God, or be a Supernatural spirit.  This timing is also very symbolic of the lesson Goole is trying to teach to the Birlings’, and the lesson which Priestley is trying to teach the audience – that we all have a shared moral and social responsibility.  He interrupts at the height of the Mr. Birling’s capitalist speech showing that the outside world affects him too.

Those who do not believe that the inspector is actually sent from god, but believe he has a religious connection think he may be someone who believed the family should be taught a religious message.  Both these arguments can be backed up by one of Gooles’ closing lines, “And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men do not learn that lesson, they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish.”  This is biblical hyperbole, he says it in such a way as to make you think it is taken straight from the book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible.

Another idea about who Goole could have been is if he is some sort of psychic, or someone able to see the future.  This is thought because at the end of the play the family receive a phone call from the police about a girl who has just committed suicide by swallowing disinfectant, exactly what the inspector had said only half an hour ago.

The final view on who Goole could be, is that he could be simply a Socialist “Crank” who was trying to get the family to change their ways.  This is the most supported of the explanations, and indeed the one which Mr. Birling himself believes, “That fellow obviously didn’t like us.  He was prejudiced against us from the start.  Probably a socialist or some sort of crank – he talked like one.”  He also goes on to say “Somebody put that fellow up to coming here and hoaxing us.  There are people in this town who dislike me enough to do that.”  The Birling family were in the upper class and had reputation of not treating the lower classes very well, as can be seen by how Mr. Birling had treated the people striking to get higher wages and the way in which Shela had had Eva sacked from here job at Milwards.  This could easily be the reason why somebody put the ‘Inspector’ up to visit the family.

It is important, however, that the inspector remains believable in his role as a police officer and a bit mysterious over all because he needs to carry out certain roles for the writer.  During the whole play he is perfectly believable as an inspector up until near the end, when he stops questioning the family and begins to almost preach to them, “Just remember this.  One Eva Smith has gone, but there are millions and millions of other Eva Smiths and John Smiths…”  His main job is present the plays main theme – to teach us that we all have a shared moral and social responsibility to each other.  This can be said to be a political message, a socialist view which is stressed most in Gooles’ final speech “We don’t live alone.  We are members of one body.  We are responsible for each other.”  But it can also be seen as a religious one, and a much wider message – he is speaking to and about everyone, not just the one family in the play.

As well as teaching the main theme of the play Goole has an important part in the way the play works and flows – he is in control of the flow of the play and reveals certain facts at the best point to keep the audience interested.  During the play he drops hints as to who else has been involved in Eva Smiths’ life, and holds information back to build up the suspense of the play.  When Goole seems to reach the end of one line of inquiry, he will bring around another set of revelations with the hope that the family will reveal more of their past, as he did with Gerald, “Now she had to try something else.  So she first changed her name to Daisy Renton”, a name which Gerald a shock, as he knew the someone with that name, making him act surprised.  Having been shocked by what the inspector already knows, it also keeps the audience interested in the play.  The play is structured so that each member of the family is interviewed individually and they tell their own part of the story in chronological order, so as it makes sense to both the characters in the play and the audience.  This is all controlled by the inspector, who decides who to interview next so he has control over the flow of the whole play, he begins the interview with Mrs. Birling by saying “Yes.  And I think you’d better look at it [photo of Eva]”

The inspectors role is a symbolic one, he arrives when Mr. Birling is at the peak of his capitalist speech, and is interrupted by the inspector telling them how Eva Smith died in such pain,

I’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience – that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and -

We hear the sharp ring of a front door bell

He also does not go until he is sure that all the members of the family are sorry for their behavior in the past, and that they would not do it again,

Inspector    You can’t even say ‘I’m sorry, Eva Smith.’
Sheila        (who is crying quietly) That’s the worst of it.

The play was written in 1945, following the second world war, but was set back in 1912, before the general strike, the first world war and the sinking of the Titanic.  All of these things affected the lower classes worse than the middle and upper classes; during the first world war hundreds of lower class soldiers were sent to fight and to die in the trenches.  It is significant that it is set then as it increases the impact of the main theme, that we all have a shared social and moral responsibility for each other.

Priestley gives the stage directions of, The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder.  This is used to symbolize the inspectors interrogation of the situation, it begins as soft to symbolize an upper-class home, but becomes ‘Brighter and harder’, when the inspector joins to symbolize both how he is inspecting the family and also to show how he intrudes into the family breaking it up and bringing the hard truth into their home, showing that they are connected to the goings on in other people’s lives.

The lighting is just one of the dramatic techniques Priestley has used to set the play – others being the fact that the whole play happens on stage in the time it would take to in real life, this is known as realism and is used to make the audience feel more involved in the play, another is the sudden turn of events at the end of the play, or coup de théâtre, when the family believe that they have got off the hook, and the phone rings telling them “A girl has just died…a police inspector is on his way here to ask some questions.“

Following Gooles’ visit some members of the family do realize that what he is trying to teach is true, both Eric and Shela are affected by his visit right to the end of the play, where as the older members of the family, Mr. and Mrs. Birling, do not seem too bothered by his visit once they realize that he was not really a police inspector, they even end up joking about it and making fun of the inspector, Mr. Birling says, “You all helped to kill her. (pointing at Sheila and Eric, and laughing) And I wish you could have seen the look on your faces when he said that.”  The older members of the family do not seem to have learnt anything and when he is gone all they seem to care about is their reputation, “I was almost certain of a Knighthood in the next Honors list - “  It is the younger end of the family who he affects most, who he seems able to teach his views to.

Whoever Goole was he managed to get a socialist, and perhaps religious, message across to some members of the family – Sheila and Eric.

Priestley manages to get his message to the audience too, by using the one family as an example of just one situation where each individual action, however small at the time, have ruined another persons life – even just the small things which seem unimportant at the time, can affect another life to such an extent.