Inspector Goole Flashcards
Inspector
“Need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of
massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”
Inspector
“He is a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period.
He speaks carefully, weightily and has a disconcerting habit of looking
hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking”
Inspector
“Two hours ago a young woman died in the Infirmary. She’d been
taken there this afternoon because she’d swallowed a lot of strong
disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course”
Inspector
“A chain of events” (may have driven her to suicide)
Inspector
“it’s better to ask for the Earth than to take it”
Inspector
“Goole. G. double O-L-E”
Inspector
“it would do us all a bit of good if sometimes we tried to put ourselves
in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their
dingy little back bedroom”
Inspector
(To Gerald) “And you think young women ought to be protected
against unpleasant and disturbing things?”
Inspector
“A girl died tonight. A pretty, lively sort of girl, who never did anybody
any harm. But she died in misery and agony- hating life-”
Inspector
“If there’s nothing else we have to share our guilt”
Inspector
(the young ones) “Are the most impressionable”
“Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”
Inspector
“You’ve had children. You must have known what she was feeling. And
you slammed the door in her face”
Inspector
“And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don’t need to know any
more. Neither do you. This girl killed herself- and died a horrible death.
But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it. (He
looks from one to the other of them carefully)But then I don’t think you
ever will. Remember what you did”
Inspector
“But remember this. One Eva Smith has gone- but there are millions
and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with
us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of
happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say
and do. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are
responsible for each other. And I tell you that 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. Good night.”
