While trying to understand the character of Inspector Goole, I found I kept asking myself the same questions. Was he a real police Inspector, was he a hoaxer, or was he something totally different, and if so, what did J.B. Priestly intend him to be?.
The play was written in the 30's, set in 1912 and first performed in 1945.
In this play, I think that the Inspector has a very big role, however, the Inspector has much more effect on the children, I say this because as soon as the Inspector walks into the scene at any time during the play, all the other characters stop and listen to what he has to say. He creates an impression of massiveness and solidity. I can imagine him speaking very seriously and looking very hard at the person he addresses. I can tell this by Priestly stage directions.
The Inspectors visit had a very large effect on all the characters he says things that make them question the values they base their lives on which they take for granted. Like their class and their wealth. For example, when he questioned Sheila he first of all made her feel terrible by telling her she was the cause of Eva Smith loosing her job, and second he said that she was able to do this because she was a wealthy high classed woman. This is the actual text from the play:.
"And so you used the power you had, as a daughter of a good customer and also of a man well known in the town, to punish the girl just because she made you feel like that?".
"Yes, but it didn't seem to be anything very terrible at the time And if I could help her now, I would - ".
(Harshly) "Yes, but you can't. it's too late. She's dead.".
The stage directions say a lot. He is harsh towards Sheila because he thinks that she is saying that just for the sake of it and she doesn't mean it, but she does. The Inspector uses short blunt statements which convey anger as you can see in the way he replies to Sheila above. .
I think, overall, that the Inspector has a different effect on each of the characters but mostly on Eric and Sheila as they are they children in the play as he says to Mrs Birling:.
