He is described on his entrance as creating "an
impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.
He is a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit.
He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting
habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before
actually speaking. "
He works very systematically; he likes to
deal with "one person and one line of
enquiry at a time." His method is to
confront a suspect with a piece of
information and then make them talk - or,
as Sheila puts it, "he's giving us the rope -
so that we'll hang ourselves."
He is a figure of authority. He deals with each member of
the family very firmly and several times we see him
"massively taking charge as disputes erupt between
them." He is not impressed when he hears about Mr
Birling's influential friends and he cuts through Mrs
Birling's obstructiveness.
He seems to know and understandan
extraordinary amount
He knows the history of Eva Smith and the
Birlings'involvement in it, even though she
died only hours ago. Sheila tells Gerald, "Of
course he knows."
He knows things are going to happen - He says "I'm
waiting...To do my duty" just before Eric's return, as if
he expected Eric to reappear at exactly that moment
He is obviously in a great hurry towards the end
ofthe play: he stresses "I haven't much time." he
may know that the real inspector is going to arrive
soon.
His final speech is like a sermon or a
politician's. He leaves the family with the
message "We are responsible for each
other" and warns them of the "fire and
blood and anguish" that will result if they
do not pay attention to what he has
taught them.