Responsibility for Death in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
The suicide of a working class girl, Eva Smith, under suspicious
circumstances, brings to light the involvement of each character and
the extent of their influence over the life of Eva Smith. In the play
'An Inspector Calls' the Birling family and Gerald Croft are
interrogated by an inspector who reveals that they all abuse their
power and position in upper class Edwardian society.
At the start of the play the family are having dinner, celebrating the
engagement of Sheila and Gerald. The mood is easy and there is much
gaiety for the family, until a police inspector arrives. He soon
reveals seedy details from their past with his aggressive
interrogation, and in a short space of time tears the family apart.
J.B. Priestley wrote the play in 1945, but it is actually set in 1912.
Priestley was a socialist and often used his plays to voice his
opinions and educate his audience as to his way of thinking. He uses
the play 'An Inspector Calls' to try to teach his audience about the
responsibility we have for one another within the community we live
in. The Birling family is a (reasonably wealthy) stereotypical middle
class Edwardian family. They have a fairly high social status and with
this comes responsibility, a point that is highlighted in the play.
During the course of this essay I will be looking at how each
character is involved in the life of Eva Smith; and ultimately who is
responsible for her death.
Mr Birling, who is head of the Birling family, is a hardened
businessman in his mid fifties, He owns his own company (Birling and
Company) which employs many y...
... middle of paper ...
...th is shared between all of
the characters, although in varying degrees. Eva Smith is ultimately
responsible for her own death because she committed suicide, but the
fact still remains that others who had an influence in her life
eventually drove her to it.
It is because of this, that I believe that Mrs Birling holds most of
the responsibility. She was the last person Eva came to for help when
she needed it most. She had the chance to help Eva but refused her
appeal and therefore put the final nail in Eva's coffin. She shows no
remorse for doing this to Eva and is not ashamed of her actions.
Although it could be said that Mr Birling started the whole affair
when he sacked her from her job, this does not make him responsible
for her death. By the time Eva came to Mrs Birling, she had nothing
and was also pregnant.
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
"And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don't need to know any
technology and how a man should live. He says 'A man has to make his
The play is set two years before World War I, in 1912, and in the year
talks with. He is a man who has come to the Birling's house to do his
The whole family’s actions are the cause of Eva’s death however the message about responsibility the Inspector presents is only take on board by Eric and Sheila. In conclusion, Priestley clearly gets across his message of responsibility towards others in the play. A clever script cunningly executed points out Priestley’s views to the audience. ‘Responsibility’ is the focal point of the play and is consistently addressed at the end of each interrogation, but the Birlings fail to recognise this.
The history of the time the play was written helps us to understand the views and the feelings expressed by Priestley in the play. The inspector transfers Priestley’s views and he shows the difference in social classes at the time. A gap which he wants to diminish. He illustrates the reason for this in the play, via the inspector, where he outlines the ways each of the Birlings have influenced someone from a completely different background and social class. This is the way Priestley viewed pre-war England.
the world in which he grew up. He became a spoilt brat, spurred on by
In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.
family, but it must not be 'cosy’ or homely. The lighting is to be a
hand Mr and Mrs Birling are not able to do that as they think of no
Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the Inspector says, "You're not telling me the truth" and she replies, "I beg your pardon!" She seems horrified that somebody could speak like that to a lady of her class. This is not only an example of how she is portrayed as self-important but also how class-conscious she is. Another example of this is in the stage directions at the beginning of the play when Mrs Birling is described as ?her husband?s social superior? meaning she is probably more aware of what the class boundaries are than perhaps Mr Birling would. She is also presented as rather cold and severe, ?If the girl?s death is due to anybody, then it?s due to him? Mrs Birling says as she criticises the father of Eva Smith?s baby. Here she shows she has little or no real regard towards other people?s feelings, especially people of a lower class. She says that the man responsible should be ?dealt with very severely?, assuming that he, like Eva, is lower class, therefore implying that upper class people never do anything like that. This links with the theme of stereotypes which is seen a lot in the play.
had a lot to say - far too much - so she had to go'. I don't see that
and Arthur Birling, a man who has worked his way up from being one of