An Inspector Calls

Set in the fictional industrial city of Brumley in 1912, the play disrupts the celebratory engagement dinner of the wealthy Birling family with the arrival of Inspector Goole. Goole systematically interrogates each family member and Gerald Croft, revealing their cumulative responsibility for the suicide of a young working-class woman, Eva Smith. The narrative exposes the moral bankruptcy of Edwardian capitalism and the hypocrisy of the upper classes. Following Goole's departure, the revelation that he was not a genuine police officer divides the family: the younger generation accepts culpability, while the older generation seeks to evade scandal. The play concludes with a final coup de théâtre—a phone call announcing a real inspector is en route to investigate a suicide, enforcing the necessity of the moral lesson.