Inspector Goole Quotes Act 3

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Inspector Goole - Key Quotes

Inspector Goole says the following key quotes in Act 3:

‘There’ll be plenty of time...'

‘There’ll be plenty of time, when I’ve gone, for you all to adjust your family relationships’.
Inspector Goole recognises that his interrogations have changed the dynamics (how they get along) of the Birling family.
He tells them that they will have to change their relationships as they get to know one another again.
- Sheila, for example, has developed a very different (less subservient) attitude towards her father – they will all need time to figure out how their family works once they show each other their true selves.

‘Each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it’

Inspector Goole speaks very plainly to the family – he does not soften the blow for them. He wants them to have learnt something from this experience, so he tells them that each one of them killed Eva.
He urges them to always remember what they have done – because he wants them to rethink their actions in the future to make sure they start to think about other people and how their words and activities can hurt others.

'One Eva Smith has gone...'

‘One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us… We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for one another’.
Priestley uses Inspector Goole as the socialist conscience (sense of wrong and right) in the play.
Here, he expresses how people should look after one another, and suggests that everyone is equally as important as everyone else.
This statement directly contrasts with Mr Birlings comment in Act 1 that everyone should look after themselves.

Inspector Goole - Key Quote (Act 3)

‘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’. Here's an analysis of this key quote from Act 3:

Consequences of selfish attitudes

Priestley uses the Inspector to warn the Birlings and Gerald of the consequences of their selfish attitudes – if they do not begin to take some responsibility for other people, including the lower classes, then society will face dire (terrible) consequences.

Message about wars

He is referring to World War One and Two here, which his 1946 audience would have lived through.
This could be designed to show audiences the real cause of the wars: selfishness and greed.
This would deepen their dislike of Mr Birling, Mrs Birling and Gerald. In the next part of this act, they completely ignore this warning and begin to act selfishly once more.