What does Priestley want the reader to think about in An Inspector Calls?How does the end of the play make the reader think and reflect on their...

Priestley wants the audience to consider the effects they
have on others and the appropriate way to treat one's fellow human beings. We are asked,
along with the characters in the play, to reflect on our position in society in relation
to others, and to consider that we are as a species, linked to each
other.

Some of the audience may be convinced of the
validity of the inspector's message early on, like Sheila and Eric. Gerald and Mr and
Mrs Birling seem to believe they have some sort of reprieve when the inspector's
credibility is questioned. Eric explains that the identity of the inspector is
inconsequential -

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ERIC: Whoever that chap was, the fact remains
that I did what I did. And mother did what she did. And the rest of you did what you did
to her.

It takes the phone
call, from the police, to shake Mr Birling's confidence in
himself-

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He puts the telephone down slowly and
looks in a panic-stricken fasion at the
others.

BIRLING: That was the police. A girl has
just died-

The audience is
then left to consider that the inspector's - and Eva Smith's identity and existence are
nowhere near as important as the mesage their story imparts.