inspector goole

• Inspector Goole

  The most important character in J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls"
• The author doesn't give any clues about Inspector Goole's past or what he looks like, and we never learn any personal details about him
• We are told that Inspector Goole is a police inspector, but by the end of the play we know that even that isn't true
• The name "Goole"

  Hints that there may be more to the inspector than meets the eye
• Inspector Ghoul


  • Creates an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness
  • Stares down the people he speaks to, showing he will not be intimidated
  • Speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking
• The inspector's arrival


  Changes the Birlings' cozy little bubble of blissful ignorance, putting their actions under a spotlight and forcing them to take accountability
• It would have been very unusual for a working-class man to be the dominant character in a room full of the wealthy upper class, indicating there is something different about this mysterious inspector
• Inspector Ghoul's investigation


  • Central to creating drama by bringing new information to light
  • His entrances and exits are perfectly timed to create maximum tension
• The inspector says his evidence comes from a letter and a sort of diary found in Eva Smith's room, but this is a somewhat plausible reason for him to have all this information
• We find out at the end of the play that Ghoul is not really a Police Inspector, so he would not have legal authority in this situation
• Inspector Ghoul's moral authority


  He is trying to show the audience that in order for real change to come about in society, people have to hold themselves to a higher moral standard even if they don't have to legally take accountability for their actions
• An Inspector Calls


  • Shares similarities with medieval morality plays, with the inspector representing a figure of virtue and the Birlings representing vices like greed, pride, envy, and lust
• The inspector's role


  A proxy for the author's views on social responsibility, the dangers of capitalism, and the futility of war
• An Inspector Calls was published in 1945, right before the end of World War II, but the play is set in 1912 just before World War One begins
• Priestley himself was a socialist, and social responsibility is a major theme in this play
• Inspector Ghoul: '"We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other, and I tell you that the time will soon come when if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in Fire and Blood and anguish."'
• The inspector's message


  Associating Priestley's socialist views with Christian terminology to make them more digestible for the predominantly Christian audience at the time
• Priestley's opinions and the inspector's message can also be seen as feminist, as the person who dies is a woman and the inspector blames society for their treatment of her