Inspector Goole

• Role of Inspector Goole

  • Used to present the Birling family and Gerlad with the message of social responsibility
  • Variety of techniques and methods Priestley uses to present the message through this character
• Inversion of generic expectations

  1. A traditional detective story focuses on the narrowing down from a list of numerous suspects to just one

  2. Inspector Goole does the opposite and shows that not one but all are responsible for the death of Eva Smith
• Priestley inverts the generic expectations of detective fiction to present the key message that 'We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other'
• Priestley 'wanted a social and political shift which took Britain forward to a society based on equality and community after the Second World War'
• Anadiplosis


  Where the second clause in the sentence begins by repeating the last words of the previous clause
• The inspector's investigation focuses on the surprising links between different events and people
• The inspector initiates this idea of connections through anadiplosis
• Inspector Goole


  • Priestley deliberately portrays him as a mysterious character
  • Vagueness of character is deliberate to create a sense of ambiguity and mystery
• Goole


  Sounds like the word 'ghoul', meaning ghost or spirit
• The inspector does haunt Gerald and the Birlings about their role in Eva's death
• The inspector at times seems to know too much about a girl who died two hours ago
• There is no definitive answer either way about whether the inspector is who he says he is
• The vague and ambiguous depictions of the character help us focus less on the character himself and more on the message he brings
• Priestley uses the character of Inspector Goole to speak directly to the audience about social responsibility
• The character of Inspector Goole does seem to be the embodiment of JB Priestley himself – a mouthpiece used to deliver the key message that Priestley wants the audience to take home with them
• Sewell Stoke: ''Then the bell rings and in comes Inspector Goole (Inspector Priestley, to be more exact)''
• Priestley enhances his message

  Through his use of supernatural imagery in the inspector's final words about, 'fire and blood and anguish'
• This is an allusion to the Biblical description of hell as being a 'blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 13:42)
• Priestley's point here cannot accurately be labelled as Biblical. His message seems to be that people need to do good deeds to make their way into heaven, and those who don't, will end up in hell