Analysis of Inspector Goole’s Character in an Inspector Calls

‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by J.B Priestly in 1946, just after the second world war. It focuses on the visit to the Birling family by a mysterious inspector. Priestley uses the character of Inspector Goole to represent a ‘god like’ figure who can also be the mouthpiece of him. He is an omniscient, authorative character who heightens the drama of the play whilst also bringing important moral issues to the forefront for the characters and audience alike.

Goole is a contradictory and complex character who reveals frequent opposing characteristics from calmness to anger, aggression and gentleness, assertiveness and secretive. At the beginning of the play in Act 1, Birling is giving what he believes to be a rather significant speech; he is celebrating his daughter’s marriage and discussing his attitudes towards responsibility. Soon after, he is interrupted by ‘the sharp ring of a front doorbell.’ Priestley has chosen to use the adjective ‘sharp’ in his stage directions to suggest that the Inspector’s arrival cuts through Birling’s monologue and makes the characters pay attention. It also creates a shift in the atmosphere. The previously convivial atmosphere has now suddenly become tense. This is affected by a change in lighting, from “pink and intimate” to “brighter and harder”. It could be argued that the Inspector destroys the cosy, safe atmosphere of the Birlings’ celebration and opens the family up to the realities of the world. Before the inspector delivers his first line we can see that he is clearly challenging the Birling’s situation.

Priestley presents the Inspector and Mr Birling as polar opposites. When the inspector first arrives, we are informed by the stage directions that he creates ’an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.’ The triplet makes it clear that from now on he will dominate the situation, despite the hospility he faces from the Birlings. The inspector remains composed , while characters around him break out. The noun ‘solidity’ proves that he stays on task despite being provoked by Birling’s numerous attempts. He remains impervious to their threats and does not get flustered. He ‘has a disconcerting habit of looking hard’ at someone before speaking, he takes his time and interrupts Mr Birling, ‘cutting through’ his bluster. This highlights the inspector’s power and his refusal to be intimidated by their social class. Birling, by contrast, adopts a condescending manner towards the Inspector and shows increasing ‘impatience’. Finally he shifts to terrorising him when he realises that the Inspector will do his ‘duty’ and not be diverted. Mr Birling is the play’s stereotypical representation of an arrogant, materialistic capitalist, whose attitudes reflect a lack of social responsibility and equity, ’a man has to look after himself.’ His misguided beliefs about war and the ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ Titanic demonstrate to the audience how foolish he really is. Priestly intends to highlight through the use of dramatic irony that capitalists’ beliefs are ignorant and should not be taken into consideration. Throughout the play, Priestley is inviting us to compare between the Birling’s attitudes and the responsible, socialist attitudes of the inspector.

The inspector represents Priestley’s voice- he serves as his mouthpiece to advocate strong socialist views and practices. He challenges characters and the audience about their treatment towards the working class. Most specifically, he represents morality, and amplifies how us as a society should treat each other since ‘we don’t live alone’ and ‘we are members of one body.’ This metaphor further emphasises on socialism and equality. The pronoun ‘we’ proves that this is a general, public message for everyone, it is addressed at both the characters and the contemporary audience. The inspector has an omniscient presence, giving him a moral or Godly power that places his views above all the others in the play. Priestley chose the name ‘Goole’ intentionally as a homophone for ‘ghoul’, suggesting a ghost or evil spirit and also as someone with a morbid interest in death, reminding us that his concern is Eva Smith’s death. Priestley intended on centering the plot of the play around a lower class character-Eva Smith to suggest how vulnerable the working class during the Edwardian era were. As well as, highlighting how shockingly socially acceptable it was to treat them badly. In the 1920’s there were strong distinctions between the upper and lower class. Upper class members or the Birling’s were unaware that their peaceful lives rest upon the hard work of the ones below them like Eva. Further to this, the Inspector’s origins are unknown and the characters spend the ending of the play trying to establish where he came from, with Mr Birling decrying him as a ‘hoax’. By presenting the inspector in such a way, Priestley wants him to serve not to penalize one single person for the events that led to Eva Smith’s death but to force all of the characters to repent their actions and warn them of the dire consequences they will face if they do not.

The inspector’s final speech ‘If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish,’ reveals the most obvious form of his thinking, which he has developed throughout the course of the play, and which seems to be have motivated his very presence in the household. The inspector strongly believes in socialism and equality among all classes. He believes that we all have a responsibility in society to take care for each other and that both the upper and lower class should come together as one. The fact that the Inspector is talking in third person is again proving his dominance and control over them. He is excluding himself and emphasising once more that he’s on top of them all. The metaphor ‘fire and blood and anguish’ is a powerful image that suggests conflict. These three words make us think of hell, bloodshed and sorrow for the loss of lives, and makes readers link to the First and Second World Wars. This would be very influential to the audience seeming that the play takes place in 1912. The intended effect of the predictions was to make the audience see a glimpse of the kind of person the character is. In the case of Birling, the audience would see him as a character whose opinion is not to be trusted, whereas the predictions made by the Inspector chill the audience and make them see that the lesson he speaks of has been re-taught through fire and blood and anguish twice already. The audience had experienced the horrors of war and were not eager to face them again. Priestley has just made the inspector reveal what the future might come out for the Birlings if they don’t change their views in life. Goole teaches the audience just what can happen if one chooses to ignore others and deny responsibility for one’s own actions.

J.B. Priestly wrote ‘An inspector calls’ with the intention of provoking people into realizing that change must come, and that all people are equal, and deserved to be treated as such. He used the character of Mr Birling to represent how the upper class people frowned upon others below them in society. Priestley was concerned about the consequences of social inequality in Britain, and the differences caused by wealth and class divide. He believed that what resulted from this were the very characteristics shown in Mr Birling. On the other hand, Inspector Goole is used as Priestley’s voice-he represents his strong socialist views and beliefs. His job is to make the characters reconsider themselves, change their attitudes and face up to what they have done. The Inspector has a very important role in the play as he controls the structure – each revelation moves the play one step forward. Simply he is the medium for the events of the play: without his intervention, none of the characters’ secrets would have been revealed.