An Inspector Calls: The Inspector

Inspector Goole arrives at the Birlings' door moments after Arthur Birling has finished lecturing his family that a man should look after himself and his own. From that entrance, the Inspector takes command of the stage and does not let go until his exit near the end of the play.

His introductory stage direction tells us how to read him. Priestley says he creates "an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness". He is not physically large, but he carries an immovable authority. He speaks "carefully, weightily", looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking.

This authority reverses the usual power in the room. The Birlings are wealthy and important; Birling name-drops his knighthood and his friendship with the Chief Constable to intimidate him. None of it works. The Inspector is unimpressed by status and interested only in the truth, and this control of a room full of powerful people is central to his dramatic function.

The Inspector's power does not come from rank or wealth. It comes from moral certainty. He is the one character the Birlings cannot buy, flatter or frighten.

The Inspector's technique is precise and deliberate, and Priestley makes him state it aloud. He insists on taking "one person and one line of inquiry at a time", because otherwise, he says, there is "a muddle".

This method is the engine of the plot. By dealing with the family one at a time, the Inspector:

• Prevents them closing ranks. They cannot cover for one another if they are questioned separately.
• Builds the case link by link. Each confession adds one more link to the chain that connects the whole family to Eva Smith's death.
• Keeps control of pace and pressure. He decides who speaks, when, and how much they are shown.

A key detail is the single photograph. The Inspector shows the picture of the dead girl to only one character at a time, and never lets two of them see it together. This has a practical effect on stage (the audience never sees it, so the girl remains a symbol rather than an individual) and a dramatic one: it stops the family comparing notes and questioning whether they are all talking about the same woman. Whether "Eva Smith", "Daisy Renton" and the girl each character wronged are truly one person is left uncertain, and the Inspector's method is what keeps that uncertainty alive.

The Inspector is far more than a policeman. He is generally understood to be Priestley's mouthpiece, the character who voices the playwright's own socialist beliefs.

Throughout the interrogation he pushes the family to see that their private actions had public consequences for one real person. His language repeatedly widens the focus from the individual to society. His most important speech, delivered just before he leaves, states the play's central argument:

"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other."

This is the opposite of Birling's opening claim that a man should mind his own business. Where Birling preaches individualism, the Inspector preaches collective responsibility, exactly Priestley's socialist position (see the context lesson).

He then delivers a warning that reaches beyond the play. If people will not learn that they are responsible for one another, the Inspector says, they will be taught it "in fire and blood and anguish". For the 1945 audience, fresh from two world wars, this reads as a prophecy of the suffering a selfish, divided society brings on itself.

Birling's worldview	The Inspector's worldview
Look after yourself and your own	We are members of one body
Community is "nonsense"	We are responsible for each other
Progress is smooth and certain	Ignoring responsibility ends in "fire and blood and anguish"

For AO2 marks you need short, memorable quotations and precise analysis of their effect. A handful of the Inspector's lines carries most of his meaning.

Quotation	Analysis
"massiveness, solidity and purposefulness" (stage direction)	The abstract nouns build an impression of unshakeable moral authority the moment he enters.
"one person and one line of inquiry at a time"	States his method; the controlled, orderly phrasing mirrors how he dismantles the family's defences.
"We are members of one body"	The metaphor of one body makes society a single organism, so harming one part harms the whole.
"We are responsible for each other"	Blunt, declarative and universal; it is the play's thesis and Priestley's message in one line.
"fire and blood and anguish"	The triple of violent nouns turns his warning into prophecy, evoking the world wars for the 1945 audience.

Notice how the analysis names the method (abstract nouns, metaphor, a triple or "tricolon") and then explains the effect and links it to Priestley's purpose. That is the pattern examiners reward.

A "tricolon" is a group of three, like "fire and blood and anguish". Priestley uses it to make the Inspector's warning sound rhythmic, final and prophetic.

Priestley leaves the Inspector's true nature deliberately unresolved, and this ambiguity is a rich area for analysis.

The clues that he is more than an ordinary policeman:

• His name. "Goole" sounds exactly like "ghoul", a ghost or spirit associated with death. Priestley chose it to unsettle us.
• His knowledge. He seems to know each character's story before they tell it, which suggests something beyond normal police work (he appears almost omniscient, all-knowing).
• The ending. After he leaves, the family confirm that no Inspector Goole works for the police and that no girl has died at the infirmary, yet the final phone call announces a real death and a real inspector on his way.

Because of this, critics offer several readings of who he is:

1. A real policeman the family cannot trace (least likely, given the ending).
2. A ghost or supernatural figure, hinted by his name and knowledge.
3. A symbol of conscience, the voice inside each character forcing them to face what they have done.
4. Priestley's own voice, a device for delivering the play's message directly.

You do not have to settle the question. A strong answer explores the uncertainty and explains why Priestley left it open: an unexplained Inspector is more disturbing and more universal than a real one, and lets him stand for conscience and responsibility themselves.

1. Treating the Inspector as just a detective

He solves no crime in the usual sense; he already knows the answers. Write about his function as Priestley's mouthpiece and a symbol of conscience, not as a whodunit investigator.

2. Ignoring the ambiguity of who he is

The uncertainty about whether Goole is real, a ghost, or a symbol is one of the most interesting things to write about. Do not state flatly that he is or is not a real policeman; explore why Priestley leaves it open.

3. Quoting the "fire and blood and anguish" line without context

This line is powerful because of the 1945 audience's experience of two world wars. Link the quotation to context (AO3) to unlock its full meaning, rather than quoting it as a vague threat.

4. Forgetting to analyse method, not just meaning

Do not only explain what the Inspector says. Name how he says it, such as the metaphor in "members of one body" or the tricolon in "fire and blood and anguish", and explain the effect. That is where AO2 marks are won.

5. Overlooking the stage directions

Priestley's description of the Inspector's "massiveness, solidity and purposefulness" and his habit of staring before speaking are deliberate authorial choices. Treat stage directions as evidence, just like dialogue.