Inspector Goole

The Inspector calls unexpectedly at the Birling household during celebrations after Sheila Birling’s engagement to Gerald Croft. He immediately stamps his authority on the family. Completely unswayed by power or privilege, Goole is filled with a determination to investigate Eva Smith’s fate, driven on by deep compassion and by anger at the hypocrisy and selfishness he gradually uncovers.

The Inspector’s abiding attitude, in stark contrast to Arthur Birling, is that ‘we are responsible for one another’. His mysterious appearance will leave a host of questions in its wake for the Birlings. But the real question he leaves behind is whether the Birling family will confront the harsh truths about themselves that the Inspector has so single-mindedly uncovered.