Inspector Goole

Character Summary: Overview

• May not be a real police inspector

• May not even be a real person

• Deeply sympathetic to the plight of the working class

• Promotes social responsibility

Character Summary: Key Characteristics

• Prophetic

• Influential

• Commanding

• Imposing

• Emotive

Character Summary: Role

• Mouthpiece of JB Priestley

• Shows the Birlings that their selfish actions have devastating consequences

  • Especially for the most vulnerable

Character Summary: Themes

• Capitalism vs Socialism

• Responsibility

• Guilt

Why is Goole Important? - Chain of Events

• Highlights the chain of events connecting individuals in society

• Establishes the link between the Birlings and Eva to encourage acceptance of responsibility and change of behaviour

Why is Goole Important? - Generational Conflict

• Older generation refuse to accept the Inspectors message

• Younger generation are open to social change and taking responsibility for actions

Why is Goole Important? - Speaking on Behalf

• Speaks on the behalf of the victimised and oppressed

• Investigation is based upon Evas diary

• Speaks for Eva beyond the grave

• Forces the Birlings to consider the ‘millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths’ who might struggle because of capitalist Greed

Language Analysis: Emotive Language

• Expresses anger at the lack of empathy shown by Mr and Mrs Birling

• Final speech makes effective use of tricolons to warn those who refuse to show responsibility will be taught ‘in fire and blood and anguish’

• Describes Evas ‘burnt out’ corpse using gruesome imagery in order to confront the Birlings with the consequences of their actions

Language Analysis: Contrasts

• Stage directions signal his arrival by the ‘sharp’ ring of the doorbell cutting off Mr Birlings speech

• When he arrives the ‘pink and intimate’ lighting becomes ‘brighter and harder’

  • The juxtaposition indicated that Goole is about to illuminate the truth and expose the Birlings secrets

Language Analysis: Sharp Tone

• Dialogue shows that he doesn’t care for the trappings of the 1912 class system

• Dismisses Mr Birlings offer of port and is unimpressed when Mr Birling claims to play golf with the Cheif Constable

  • ‘I dont play golf’

• Talented at using other characters words against them, punishing their lack of empathy

  • Convinces Mrs Birling to unwittingly blame Eric at the end of Act 2

“We are members of one body. We are responsible for eachother…

If men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish”

“We are members of one body. We are responsible for eachother…if men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish”

• Act Three

• Metaphor of ‘body’ illustrates how human beings are all fundamentally linked

  • Failure of one organ impacts the entire human anatomy

  • Suffering of the working class directly impacts the moral health of the wealthy and privileged

• Short sentences breaks away from the elaborate, self important speeches made earlier by capitalist patriarch Arthur

  • Gives message a sense of undeniable moral truth

• Direct challenge to capitalism, opposing Mr Birling ‘mind his own business and look after himself and his own”

• Apocalyptic imagery, triplet ‘fire and blood and anguish’ terrifying, evoking horrors of war

  • Set in 1912 but written in 1945, sandwiched between the 2 wars

    • Audience will understand this link

    • Greed and selfishness of upper classes are the root cause of global tragedies

• Direct warning about learning social empathy

“I dont…

play golf”

“I dont play golf”

• Act One

• Direct refusal of upper classes privilege

• Demonstrates his complete immunity to capitalist power and influence of Mr Birling

• Underscores his moral divide from the Birlings and commitment to social justice

“Public men Mr Birling, have…

responsibilities as well as privileges”

“Public men Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”

• Act Two

• Moral turning point

  • Challenges capitalist belief that they are only responsible for themselves

• Public men: those is positions of power and influence

• Privileges: wealth, high social status that Birling defends

• Responsibilities: emphasises Priestleys socialist message, those with power have a moral obligation to protect and care or vulnerable members of society

“[Eva Smiths] position now is that…

she lies with a burnt out inside on a slab”

“[Eva Smiths] position now is that she lies with a burnt out inside on a slab”

• Act Two

• Shocking image

• Presented in plain language

• Not surprising that it impacts other characters

Character Development

• He does not develop as a character

• Begins and ends with moral authority

• Catalyst for the changes we see in the other characters

• Carries out his investigation purposefully, interrogating one person at a time

Character Development: Act One

• Mr Birling and Sheila

  • Inspector reveals that Mr Birling and Sheila set Eva on her tragic path

Character Development: Act Two

• Gerald and Mrs Birling

  • Inspector forces Gerald to reveal his affair with Eva

  • Diverges from his chronological investigation to expose Mrs Birlings cruelty towards Eva

Character Development: Act Three

• Eric

  • Inspector reveals Erics involvement with Eva

    • Forces him to admit that he raped and used Eva before stealing money for her

  • Leaves the Birlings with a warning about the consequences of denying their responsibility towards others

Character Interpretations: Christianity and Morality

• AIC is based on morality plays of the late Middle Ages

  • Men are caught between the religious need for goodness and the temptations of evil

• Inspector could be seen to represent Christian ideals as he encourages the Birlings to confess their sins and seek repentance

  • Appeals to their better natures

  • Warns them of the helium ‘fire and blood and anguish’ that awaits those who deny his message

Character Interpretations: 20th Century Warfare

• AIC takes place a few years before WW1

• Inspector highlights ignorant attitudes of men like Arthur about the future and the unrest throughout Europe

• Message can be interpreted as a call to action for the 1945 audience to not repeat mistakes of the past

Character Interpretations: Inspector as a Ghost

• Might even be interpreted as the ghost of Eva Smith

• Goole is a homophone for ghoul

• Omniscient knowledge of her life, story and feelings suggest a connection between them

• Idea of a ghost encouraging the living to change imitates the medieval morality plays

• Evokes similar morality stories preaching social awareness like A Christmas Carol