How does Priestley use the Character of the Inspector to suggest ways that Society could be
improved?
In J.B Priestley’s captivating play “An Inspector Calls” (1945), Priestley elucidates the pivotal
theme of responsibility through the manipulative character of Inspector Goole, who explores how
the theme of guilt can be influential, leading to many capitalist older generations to try to deflect
their responsibilities. Perhaps Priestley set the play during the reign of King Edward VII, to firstly
convey the death of Queen Victoria, marking the end of the Victorian era and to convey the chaotic
and unprecedented events of World War 1 and 2, which is a great influence to the play, exploring
how war can play havoc with the relationship between a family. “An Inspector Calls” was set
during the Edwardian era (1901), during a time whereby capitalism was mainstream leading to a
reluctance to altering views. Subsequently, when reviewing the play as a whole, it is as if Priestley
uses the character of Mr Goole as a means of teaching his audience the inexorable march of guilt,
and the impending downward spiral, which must be ended by educating the older generation to alter
their views for the greater good.
At the start of them play, Priestly conveys the the “hard-headed” mind of the Mr Birling during his
long speech, conveying the unchanging capitalist views of the older generation. Priestley uses
dramatic irony in Mr Birling’s speech, while he boasts about his optimism for the future. He talks
with arrogance and confidence and and believes that “The Titanic is unsinkable, absolutely
unsinkable.” A contemporary audience at the time would understand that this is not the case because
the play was published in 1945, but set in the time before the World Wars, subsequently, they would
not take this lightly, developing an vehement aversion towards Mr Birling’s capitalist, unchanging
views. Accordingly, the Titanic did sink, juxtaposing to Mr Birling’s inherent belief, which was
emphasised with the repetition of “unsinkable”. Moreover, on page 6, Priestley gives another
ingenious use of dramatic irony “The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war” where Mr
Birling makes this ignorant and egotistical statement, without collecting anyone else’s opinion He
continues to make uninformative decisions and predictions almost as if he is clueless at what he is
talking about. Clearly, he was wrong thus, this dramatic irony perhaps foreboded the two
unfortunate series of events to follow; firstly, the sinking of the Titanic and the two World Wars, and
secondly, his trepidation of his responsibilities later on in the play, which he tries to brush off.
Mr Birling wants his children to “listen to what I’m telling you”, utilising command words to get
his point across like a “practical man of business”, overlooking the feelings of his children.
Moreover, the repeated personal pronoun “I” instigates his undemonstrative attitude, disregarding
the opinions of others, projected in his plosive use of speech with the repetitive “t’s”, pronounced
by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth or palate, mimicking the sound of spitting, insinuating
that Mr Birling feels that he is superior to those around him, allowing him to “spit” on those without
the “political power” that he posses.
In this long-winded and almost inexorable speech of Mr Birling, it is imminent that his thoughtless
talk takes up the preponderance of the page. This ingenious structure technique forces the
Edwardian audience to acknowledge the egocentric personality of Mr Birling possesses; seizing all
the time of speech for himself. Perhaps Priestly presents Mr Birling in such an unlikeable manner to
convey his internal dislike towards the capitalist views, Priestley being a believer of socialism
himself, he shows that these arrogant views will lead to a inauspicious demise. Perhaps Priestley is
trying to insinuate that sometimes, capitalists speak imprudently and should take responsibility for
their actions and that society could be improved by giving others a chance to speak, a rare sight
with the social hierarchy present at the time, with the royal family at the top and the working class
slaving away tediously at the bottom. Often, the quality of one’s life would be determined by which
family status you were born into, leaving many people that were born in the working class e.g. Eva
Smith, to have no power whatever and sometimes regarded as “disposable”, thus, Birlings and
