Inspector Goole
The Inspector is Priestley's mouthpiece — an enigmatic figure whose very name ('Goole', suggesting ghoul or ghost) signals his otherworldly function. He is not a conventional police inspector but a moral force who systematically dismantles each Birling's self-justification. His method — showing the photograph to one person at a time, controlling the pace of revelation — is theatrical and deliberate. His final speech ('We are members of one body') is Priestley's socialist thesis delivered directly to the audience, and his departure leaves the central question unanswered: was he real, or something more?
Key Themes
The Inspector is the embodiment of social responsibility — his entire purpose is to force the Birlings to recognise their obligation to others. His final speech ('we are responsible for each other') is Priestley's direct thesis on collective duty.
The Inspector functions as a moral judge, systematically exposing each character's ethical failures. His interrogation method forces self-examination, and his prophetic warnings frame morality as a societal imperative, not a private matter.
The Inspector represents Priestley's socialist values, directly opposing the Birlings' capitalist individualism. His collectivist message ('we are members of one body') is the ideological counterweight to Birling's 'a man has to look after himself.'
The Inspector refuses to recognise class hierarchies — he treats Mr Birling and Eva Smith as equally important. His authority is moral rather than social, subverting the power structures the Birlings rely on to deflect accountability.
The Inspector's message lands differently across generations: Sheila and Eric absorb it while the older Birlings resist. His presence catalyses the generational split that Priestley sees as the path to social progress.
Character Arc
Interrupts the Birlings' engagement celebration — a symbol of capitalist self-satisfaction. His entrance shatters the family's comfortable world. Stage directions describe him as creating 'an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness', contrasting with the family's superficiality.
Interviews each family member in turn, peeling back layers of respectability to reveal exploitation, prejudice, and cruelty. His technique is methodical: he controls who sees the photograph and when, ensuring no one can collaborate on a cover story.
Delivers Priestley's central message: 'We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.' This is not detective work but prophetic warning. He then leaves, and the family immediately divides between those who accept and those who reject his message.
Key Quotes
“We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”
Act 3
The tricolon builds from negative ('don't live alone') to collective identity ('one body') to moral imperative ('responsible for each other'). 'One body' echoes Christian theology (the Body of Christ) and socialist collectivism simultaneously, allowing Priestley to address both religious and political audiences. This is the thesis statement of the entire play.
Theme Links
This is the play's definitive statement of social responsibility — the Inspector asserts that every individual has a duty to every other member of society, not just to themselves and their family.
The quote directly opposes Birling's capitalist individualism with a socialist vision of collective interdependence. 'One body' frames society as a single organism where no part can be sacrificed without harming the whole.
The Inspector delivers a moral verdict on the Birlings and, by extension, the audience: to live without responsibility for others is a moral failure, not simply a political choice.
“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.”
Act 3
The prophetic tone and apocalyptic imagery ('fire and blood and anguish') references both World Wars — events the 1945 audience had lived through but the 1912 characters have not yet experienced. This is Priestley's most explicit use of dramatic irony: the audience knows the Inspector's 'prophecy' has already come true.
Theme Links
The Inspector warns that rejecting social responsibility leads to catastrophic consequences — the 'fire and blood' prophecy connects individual moral failure to collective disaster.
The apocalyptic tone frames the Inspector as a prophetic moral judge: those who refuse to learn the lesson of responsibility will face devastating retribution, elevating the play's moral message to near-biblical urgency.
The prophecy implies that capitalist selfishness will inevitably produce war and suffering. The 1945 audience recognises this as historically true — two World Wars proved the cost of unchecked individualism.
“One person and one line of inquiry at a time. Otherwise there's a muddle.”
Act 1
The Inspector's insistence on control reflects Priestley's dramatic method — he structures the play so each revelation builds on the last. But it also reveals the Inspector's power: he dictates the terms of the investigation, not Birling. 'Muddle' is deliberately simple language that dismisses Birling's attempts at authority.
Theme Links
The Inspector overrides Birling's authority in his own home, demonstrating that moral power supersedes social rank. Birling's status as alderman and businessman counts for nothing under the Inspector's interrogation.
The Inspector's methodical approach ensures each character faces individual moral scrutiny — there is no hiding behind collective confusion. His control of the process is itself a form of moral judgement.
Key Relationships
They represent opposing ideologies: Birling's capitalism ('a man has to look after himself') vs the Inspector's socialism ('we are responsible for each other'). The Inspector systematically dismantles Birling's authority, exposing the moral bankruptcy beneath his confidence.
Sheila is the Inspector's most successful 'student'. She accepts responsibility early, echoes his language after he leaves, and becomes his surrogate — continuing to challenge her parents' denial. The Inspector's impact on Sheila proves that change is possible.
The Inspector speaks for Eva — a woman who cannot speak for herself because the class system has silenced her. Whether Eva is one person or a composite of many, the Inspector gives voice to the voiceless, which is Priestley's model for what socially responsible art should do.
Writer’s Methods
Priestley uses the Inspector as a dramatic device rather than a realistic character. His omniscience (knowing details he shouldn't), his control of the photograph, and his prophetic final speech all break the conventions of naturalistic drama. The lighting change at his entrance (from 'pink and intimate' to 'brighter and harder') is a stage direction that works as metaphor: comfortable self-deception gives way to harsh moral scrutiny. His ambiguous identity — ghost? time-traveller? conscience? — ensures the audience cannot dismiss his message by explaining him away.
Grade 7+ Point
WOWThe Inspector can be read as a Brechtian *Verfremdungseffekt* (alienation device): his unreality prevents the audience from passively consuming the drama and forces them to engage critically with its political message. Priestley, influenced by J.W. Dunne's theories of time (outlined in *An Experiment with Time*, 1927), may have conceived the Inspector as a figure who exists outside linear time — which explains his knowledge of events that haven't yet occurred within the play's 1912 setting.
Key Vocabulary
A character who directly voices the playwright's own views
All-knowing — the Inspector knows things no real detective could
Intended to teach a moral or political lesson
A theatrical technique used to create a specific effect on the audience
The idea that everyone in society shares responsibility for its members
Exam Tip
AONever waste time debating whether the Inspector is 'real' — this misses the point. Instead, argue that his ambiguity is deliberate: Priestley wants the audience to focus on the *message*, not the messenger. Top-band answers connect the Inspector's function to Priestley's socialist purpose and his use of the play as political argument.