the inspector

• The Inspector


  • Dressed in a minimal "plain darkish suit"
  • Seems to be an ordinary police Inspector
  • Supernatural nature becomes apparent as the play progresses
  • Priestley leaves the Inspector's physical appearance as vague and unimportant due to his message of social responsibility being more important
• Avenging angel

  Priestley presents the Inspector as a spiritual avenging angel
• Socialist values and ideology

  Channelled through the Inspector
• Vehicle to catalyse change

  Priestley utilises the Inspector to catalyse change in perceptions of responsibility and encourage the younger generation to break away from the older, more traditional and individualistic generation
• Moral force

  • Opposed to and exempt from the immorality and corruption of society
  • More akin to a moral policeman than a regular police Inspector
• The Inspector refuses a drink of port


  Symbolic of his refusing to act immorally
• The Inspector rejects Mr Birling's attempt at bribery


  Demonstrates the consistency of the Inspector's morals
• The Inspector's views

  • Too progressive for the pre-suffrage 1912 society and more aligned with those of the contemporary audience
  • Encourages the audience to realise that a person's class is irrelevant to their degree of responsibility
• Modest appearance

  Priestley suggests the Inspector has no interest in attracting interest to himself; his purpose is to promote socialist values and denounce the commercialism and superficiality of capitalism
• The Inspector's final speech

  Warns the audience of the consequences in continuing in the same capitalist and individualistic fashion
• Priestley suggests that WWII occurred due to humanity not heeding the need for greater social responsibility for their actions, and that the world wars were a direct result of "if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish."
• Vehicle for Priestley's agenda

  The character of the Inspector is used as a mouthpiece to present Priestley's own views regarding the need for socialist change
• Agent of God


  Priestley incorporates many similarities between the Inspector and the perception of the Judeo-Christian God
• Antithesis to Mr Birling

  Priestley presents Mr Birling as intolerable, which allows him to portray the Inspector as a favourable alternative
• Conversion of Sheila


  Sheila becomes symbolic of Priestley's intended audience response and the Inspector's ability to change mindsets
• Exposure of Gerald


  The Inspector exposes the hypocrisy and lack of responsibility of the upper-classes
• Mrs Birling's vain attempts to halt inquiry


  The Inspector's accusing tone causes Mrs Birling to condemn Sheila for expressing empathy
• The Inspector


  • Causes the hypocrisy of the upper-classes to be revealed
  • Exposes the upper-class for shunning responsibility
• Gerald, despite knowing that Eva Smith is indeed the same girl that was wronged by all the characters, suggests that they were in fact different girls
• Gerald validates Sheila's story as Eva "said something about the shop too" and also had to leave Mr Birling's employment "after a strike"
• Gerald knows, beyond reasonable doubt, that Eva is indeed the same girl
• Gerald fabricates the claim that Eva is not the same girl to partially excuse his responsibility for her ultimate suicide
• Priestley uses the character of the Inspector to condemn the upper-classes' lack of responsibility and determination to avoid it
• Mrs Birling's vain attempts to halt inquiry
• The Inspector's accusing tone causes Mrs Birling to condemn Sheila for expressing empathy towards Eva and the guilt that she feels for her role in her suicide
• Mrs Birling silences Sheila as "your behaving like a hysterical child", right after she expresses how responsible she feels for Eva's death
• Mrs Birling refers to the disorder hysteria, which was essentially constructed by the patriarchy to oppress women and prevent them from gaining positions of power
• Mrs Birling uses this against her own daughter in an attempt to dismiss her views, which are becoming aligned with the Inspector's progressive view of socialism
• Priestley ensures that Eric is portrayed as redeemable and that the Inspector reveals his capacity to change
• Eric's excuse for his actions seems valid; he had been exposed to "respectable" men using prostitutes and thus it became normal for him
• This coupled with Mr Birling being "not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble", allows Eric's actions to seem to be due to the influence of the society the Inspector is so heavily critical of
• The Inspector uses Eva as a means to inflict guilt upon the characters and catalyse change within them
• The Inspector's inquiry is centred around the suicide of Eva Smith; however, the Inspector's message is not limited to just Eva
• The Inspector reveals in his final speech that Eva's significance extends beyond her as an individual
• The characters can no longer help Eva, yet, they can aid the millions of other people whose suffering they are complicit in
• Else, they shall "learn that lesson" in "fire blood and anguish"
• Priestley deliberately times the Inspector's arrival to coincide with, and interrupt, Mr Birling and his negative view of socialism
• This allows Priestley to structurally represent the Inspector's opposition to Mr Birling's capitalist views
• "You'll hear some people say that war is inevitable. And to that I say – fiddlesticks!" - The use of the noun "fiddlesticks", alongside Priestley's use of dramatic irony causes Mr Birling to seem overwhelmingly confident in his arrogance
• "time of steadily increasing prosperity" - The Great Depression followed 1912 and engulfed post-war Britain. Therefore, the audience in 1945 would identify Mr Birling as unreliable and thus dislike him