Who was the Inspector?

Any help at all is greatly appreciated - no matter how short.

Anyone else got any information?

Aslan, could you perhaps enlighten me with a little information then, please?

Or anyone else?? Please, I need this information for an assesment.

I personally think that the inspector may be a ghost who was Priestley's mouthpiece and if he was a real inspector he wouldn't be that intimidating because if he was the normal police inspector he would have been respectful to the Birlings considering the class that they had and furthermore if Goole was a real inspector when he heard the name Gerald Croft as Mr. Birling had said that he was well-known person thanks to his father's business he would have been more polite. I think Goole came to the Birlings to show them the right way to behave and since they didn't do what the inspector had said they received a phone call at the end of the play and Goole would have come to bring justice to Eva/Daisy Renton that's what I think hope it helped.

i just know that inspector was came from future. and i also know that the "goole" name came from ghost. i think you need to watch the movie then you can find the answer. because when i saw the movie it was like in the last, mr.birling and all people knows that "goole" inspector not was the real inspector. ( in the play was same). and they know in the call that inspector own his way he coming in mr.brilings house.( in the play was same). in the movie the calls before when they knows that 'goole' inspector was not the real inspector after , the inspector was seen eva smith in her house , see her she writing in her dairy. when she came out of her house she going to sucide. then inspector goes to house and read the whole dairy ( eva smith). when he finish the reading. he quickly running and try to save eva smith, insopector takes to hospital her but she can't alive.....so then the inspector call mr.briling and he said that inspector own his way, he coming mr.birling house. ( sorry for y bad english)

Goole is the angel of death. I wasn't quite sure until the scene when Eva actually sees him as they are attempting to pump her stomach. At that point, you see him looking as though he wants to help but all he can do is look on helplessly and he looks defeated and as though he wants to cry. She sees him for the first time as she is dying, even though he was close to her numerous times leading up to her drinking the cleanser. When he warned the family as he was leaving, Goole was prophesying as to the end times. Humans would learn compassion of their own volition, or they would be forced into submission by fire, blood and anguish for their apathy. Some of Jesus' last words on earth was to love one another as He loved us. Goole was just doing what he was sent to do, yet it broke his heart. Not only her senseless death, but the fact that she tried numerous times to seek help from the very family that led to her hopelessness, only to be used and cast aside. This is a very well written play and the 2015 adaptation is very memorable. I hope my take on this helps, however late I might be to the duscussion.

The Inspector was actually "Death". He set the Birling's up in order to come and collect them later, either that night or later in life...

When watching the BBC film adaption, it suggested him to be supernatural. However I also thought he could know Eva, and she may have asked him to make the Birlings to confess. When he had made them regret their actions, he should let Eva know by standing outside her window- then she would know it was time to kill herself. However, the fact that she cannot see him doesn't fit with this theory. Overall, I believe there is the most evidence for the theory that he personifies death or that he is of supernatural origins. It is obvious that the writer has left Goole's origins unclear on purose.

Personally, I believe that if we put the idea that it's a play that was created for a purpose, I think the Inspector represents JB Priestley himself. Allow me to elaborate.

It's often believed that JB Priestley used the Inspector as a mouthpiece for his own socialist views, which means he intended to use the Inspector as a construct for his intentions that he wanted to convey to his 1945 upper class audience.

JB Priestley could have essentially put himself in the play, as his own character, he is an omniscient, transcendent being who appears to be able to "tell the future". If we put this idea into the play, he warns the Birling family about being taught that lesson in "fire and blood and anguish" which, on one hand, could reference hell in religious terms, but it could also represent the world wars, as the play is set in 1912.

As the classes mixed together during the war due to them having to fight alongside each other, society essentially learnt that they should value each other and treat every class the same the hard way; within the harsh realities of war.

The idea of the inspector being a being who could tell the future is supported by these facts.

You can not go off the BBC adaptation in an exam because that is an ADAPTATION, in the REAL play, Eva is never seen nor speaks, and it all stays in one room.The inspector does not see Eva in the real play, we only says that he has seen her before he came to the Birling's house, so you can not make a judgement on who the inspector is off adaptation you must only go off evidence from the play.With the evidence from the play, it leads me to believe that the Inspector is the ghoul of Eva's dad.We learn that Eva's parents died, and I believe that because of how much care and concern he showed for Eva then he must be related to her along with the fact of his name being Google on the other hand this could be due to his socialist, almost communist views.

the inspector gool aso known as (ghost) seems like the theory is true he is a ghost i think of him as evas dad because we know that evas mum and dad died when she was little this makes us think that he was just a sprirt trying to help her by making the birlings open up

My thoughts are that the Inspector was the spirit of her father. Her diary stated that she had no family as they had passed on. In the hospital there was a memory of a little girl running down the beach, maybe that was his memory of her? After obtaining the diary he felt it his duty to hold them morally responsible for her passing.

I agree with Christina J , It was the spirit of her father , he made them feel morally responsible for her death !

Inspector Goule was as his name suggests, a ghost. That ghost was an inspector from far past. That inspector(ghost)was the girls father, who was an inspector when she was a little girl.

I think the Inspector is the spirit of her father. I realize the play is what's in front of us here. But the maker of the fine 2015 adaptation seems to go in this direction. The inspector had a warmth of feeling for her, which is represented by the image of a child running along the beach. That, I think, is the father's memory of her as a young girl.

The problem with most of the explanations (simply a ghost, ghoul, angel, or other supernatural force) is there's no purpose to it. In other words, why, to what end, and who cares?

A socialist character who just shows up out of nowhere? I realize Priestley's political inclinations and the communitarian message upon leaving, but I think this suggestion cheapens the literary nature of the play. So much of the drama has absolutely no political substance to it. Insensitivity, manipulation, and something like rape can be done to others by socialists, too. A socialist, nah.

I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this thread but I have two points I just wanted to add on.

In the 2015 adaptation, I'm inclined to believe that Inspector Goole was presented as the spirit of Eva Smith's father. They appeared to have an emotional connection as during the infirmary scene, they both make eye contact despite Eva not seeing him straight infront when she looked out her window. His face is distraught and as if in pain, the only emotion he displays in the whole adaptation. Also they cut to a memory of Eva running across a beach as a young child which suggests it's from her father's (Goole's) perspective. Finally in the adaptation, despite cutting out much dialogue, the script writer kept in inspector Goole mentioning "there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smith's". Which could just be brushed over but could imply that John Smith was real and was the inspector when he was alive. Goole was a heartbroken father trying to make these cruel people change their ways after what they did to his daughter.

However, this was only one adaptation and this father idea definitely doesn't seem to be greatly suggested in the original script. In the end, Priestly was writing a play in order to encourage people to reconsider their capatalist perspectives which inflicted "fire, blood and anguish" upon the lower class. I believe to priestly it didn't matter who or what the inspector was or who the birlings were. This play was always much bigger than that: it was about the injustice of the capatalist system , change, and the strive towards a more equal, socialist society.

I think he was an angel. Perhaps a guardian angel who couldn't do a thing to save us from the mortal sin of suicide Put that new all her life she tried hard to be a good person & to help others came came desperate when she needed help and no one would. The last thing he could do for her, is get her the justice she was entitled to.

I do believe that the inspector to be Eva's dad, as the surname Goole refers to a spirit or ghost. And as both of her parents are dead, his name would fit the description, and it would also explain why he can see Eva but she can't see him and why he would want justice, because it was his daughter that committed suicide.
And it would explain hiw all he could do was watch helplessly when they try to pump her stomach in the infirmary and why he looks like he's about to cry.

Hope this theory helps! :)

He could be the spirit of Eva's father, (who has passed on), or the voice of every man, as a father, not wanting to think of his daughter being violated. Mr Birling is very dismissive of how men treat women, in that's the way it is, but has double standards - as he is very protective of his daughter, Sheila, and even tries to protect her from a conversation he deems she doesn't need to concern herself with, by telling to her leave the room.