The Role of Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls

The Role of Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls

In the work, An Inspector Calls, Inspector Goole role has been a described as a staging device. Yet, defining Inspector Goole as meerly a staging device implies that he is not a character in his own right but exists simply as a way of exploring the personalities and lives of other, more fully rounded, characters. While it is true that An Inspector Calls would not work without Inspector Goole's central role, it reduces him a little to refer to him as 'just' a staging device. In order to understand the full significance of Inspector Goole, it is worth exploring how his primary role works and then looking at what further significance JB Priestly attaches to him.

The opening scene of the play presents a solidly respectable upper middle class family at ease with itself and the world. They are at a dinner celebrating Gerald Croft's engagement to Sheila Birling and Mr Birling is holding forth on issues of the day. The year is 1912, the 'unsinkable' Titanic is about to set sail and as far Mr Birling is concerned, the First World War is not even a shadow on the horizon.

You'll hear some people say war's inevitable. And to that I say - fiddlesticks! The Germans don't want war.

So even before the Inspector arrives, Priestly cast doubts on the wisdom of Mr Birling in the minds of an audience who are fully aware of the history of the next six years. On closer examination the romantic nature of the evening is suspect as it transpires that Gerald's affection for Sheila is tempered by the fact that their marriage would form a profitable business association between their fathers' firms.

Inspector Goole's intrusion into this ...

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...A moralistic busybody who found her diary? A socialist agitator wishing to strike a blow against the arrogant upper classes? All these are possibilities for the audience to discuss as the play closes.

J B Priestly has used the naturalistic setting of an Edwardian dining room to produce an old fashioned morality play, and at the centre of all of his achievements is Inspector Goole. He is a plot device but he is also a moral policeman, an embodiment of the collective conscience and some kind of agent acting on behalf of the troubled spirit of a suicidal girl. He is not the same kind of character as the members of the Birling household, but if he had been more 'rounded' he would not have been able to play the many roles assigned to him.

Work Cited:

Priestley, J.B. An Inspector Calls, A Play in Three Acts London: William Heinemann, 1947