An Inspector Calls

The finale of An Inspector Calls brought cheers but most of all it brought about confusion. It was obvious this play wasn’t going to lay out a neat plot for the audience; it was going to be a play that stays in your mind for the next few days. The intriguing part of this play was, for once, everyone didn’t just wake up, bleary-eyed to give the cast a meaningless clap. When I looked around, I saw people I would have pegged for being gone before the lights had dimmed, actually paying attention, and even more surprising, struggling after the play to comprehend the meaning.

Inspector Goole’s role was clearly to make this family aware of the impact of seemingly trivial things they did in life. Sheila’s immediate reaction when she was at the store was to complain to the manager, but she realized how silly it was once Goole had pointed it out. Gerald and Eric saw messing around with “women of the town,” as they were kindly put, as merely a fun distraction, but Goole showed them how that led to pregnancy and how that can destroy a woman’s life. The husband and wife were so used to dismissing people in life that they didn’t think dismissing Eva Smith from a job and help, would matter anymore than anyone else they had brushed off. This was a family who simply acted with no conscience, and Goole was there to give them a conscience. Goole is right, “we are all responsible,” and this play served to teach their family, and the audience, a lesson. Every action we take in our lives is because of a choice we make, and we have to make sure those choices aren’t