‘An Inspector Calls’ is a very interesting and mysterious play and book. It leaves you with so many un-answered questions. Who is the police inspector? What did he want? Where did he come from? All these questions are all sensible and reasonable. In this essay I will be talking about ‘Inspector Goole’ and analyzing his character. I will be talking about whom I think he is and where he came from. There are so many different arguments for this play, as everyone will have their own opion.
Who is Inspector Goole? Is he really a police inspector or just a man trying to get revenge? There are so many different characters the inspector could be or represent. While I was reading the script, my first impression was that he was in fact an inspector, However as we read on further my thoughts began to change. Inspector Goole to me was a good character. I feel he was Eva Smiths/ Daisy Renton’s guardian angel. This would explain his great sympathy towards Eva Smith.
He was trying to help her, and was getting revenge on the people who lead a young girl to do that to herself. Although I think the Inspector was Eva’s guardian angel, there are still many other theories I came up with. This play is quite personal, as everyone will see the story different and come up with their own conclusion. To me he could also be the spirit of Eva Smith, coming to explain her self so that her soul can rest in peace. The Inspector is what we like to call an Enigma- Something/someone that we are puzzled by and don’t know anything about. I feel that the Inspector was definitely not there to cause anger or damage people lives. I think he was a good cause to the Birlings lives and it wasn’t an evil attempt to ruin their lives.
The Inspector came to the Birlings house to represent the poor, the oppressed and the weak- he is like their voice, speaking for them, trying to help them. The Inspector came to the Birlings house to teach them a lesson. A lesson that no matter how much money you have, or how clever or smart you are, or if you nice clothes and furniture this does not change the fact that everyone is equal and that we should treat others the way we would like to be treated. He has come to represent them and explain this to the Birlings.
They all feel very highly of themselves and it was this that lead a poor girl to not think so very highly of her self and caused her to kill herself. In the Inspectors final speech he makes it clearer that he is here to teach the Birlings a lesson. The way he said ‘ Just remember this, One Eva Smith is gone-but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still with us’ he is saying that they have made one woman lead to suicide, but that doesn’t mean it is to late to do the right thing and start treating other people with respect and feelings.
The Inspector also says ‘ We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other’. By saying this he is trying to tell the Birlings that everyone lives together and to make this work we have to treat everyone equal, as everyone equal. He is also saying that each person had another person helping him or her for them to get where they are. The last line the Inspector says is quite important and dramatic ‘ I tell you that the time will come when, if men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish’ He is explaining to the Birlings that if they carry on treating people the way they are now, the world will turn into a very ugly place, and that if everyone were to treat others the way they had it would end in war. He is telling the Birlings to start over new and clean before matters get to bad.
Now, Why did the Inspector come to the Birlings house? On the surface he is there to question them on the death of Eva Smith and find out what really happened. However, Is this really why he has come to their home? Does the Inspector have an ulterior motive? I think the inspector didn’t really come to the Birlings house to ask about Eva Smith, it seemed he already knew everything there was to know about her death.
So why else would he show up at there house? I think the Inspector used Eva’s death as an excuse to make the Birlings exam themselves and teach them a lesson on how they should be treating others. The Inspector just used the suicide to show them what they are doing to the world and other humans, to show them that why should Eva have been treated in any other way from another human being? What did she do that was so terrible to deserve this? The inspector uses all these happenings so the Birlings realize what they have done, and sort it out. He has come to teach them a lesson.
The Inspector is not really there to achieve anything to do with information on Eva Smith’s / Daisy Renton’s death. He already knows all about this, he doesn’t need any more information. He is really there hoping to have an effect on the Birlings life. He wants them to realize what they have done and are still doing to people; they shut the world out and live as if they are the only family on earth. The inspector uses Eva’s death to show the family this. He also wants to show them that there is no way they can carry on living and treating people the way they do. Thinking that they are the only people that matter. He hopes to achieve changing this. He wants an impact on their lives so they behave like normal human beings with open minds.
