Essay on Inspector Calls, “Who is responsible”?

The responsibility for Eva Smith’s death is shared almost equally among the members of the family group, but it is possible to separate guilt of hatred and pride from the unkindness of weakness and selfishness.

To start with, Mr. Birling hired Eva Smith and after a short time he fired her. The fact that he fired her over the dispute of a minimal amount of money means firstly he could afford to give them and secondly, would have made a difference in their lives. Birling says he has to keep his costs down, “ lower costs and higher prices”. Clearly, Birling has no legal obligation to keep labour costs down; presumably then he sees it as a moral obligation. This tells is about Birling’s principles, and, by allegation, about how much value he places upon people.

Mrs. Birling has the most diverse form of responsibility due to it being her job to help people and to judge them fairly. Although, Eva used Mrs. Billing’s name, she should have listened to what Eva has to say and if maybe she hadn’t turned her away, then Eva wouldn’t have been driven to suicide. Mrs. Birling knew the girl was pregnant when she turned her down. Meanwhile, Sheila whose horrified by the revelations calls her mother vile and Mrs. Birling then points out that she was not the one who sacked the girl from the factory and that the girl knew who the father was but claiming “elaborate fine feelings”. She also admits that the girl said she did not want to take any more money from the father, because she suspected that he was stealing it. This shows that Mrs. Birling was being cruel for not taking the girl in and selfish for not listening to her. She says, “ Unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of or that won’t tolerate investigation”, this shows she’s still quite certain she didn’t do anything wrong.
Mrs. Birling admits to being prejudice right from the start, “...Girls’ of that class”.

Sheila was one of the few that understood what she had done was wrong and learnt her lesson. When Sheila went to Milwards, she thought Eva was laughing at her and got jealous of her good looks, therefore she got furious and threat to the workers that if Eva were still there next time, she would never return and make sure Eva would get fired. “…but she was a very pretty…I couldn’t be sorry for her”. Sheila felt very guilty and was upset when the inspector showed her the photograph of Eva Smith, whilst interviewing her. This shows that although Sheila may have played a part in the reason for Eva’s death, she knows what she did and understands the consequences. At the end of the play she feels that, whilst for a time it had seems as though they had learnt something about themselves and their society, once they saw a “way out”, they simply returned to how they were at the beginning. Sheila feels ashamed for what happened at Milwards, “ I feel now I can never go there again, oh why had this to happen”?

Eric first met Eva in the palace bar one night when he was drunk. He went home with her and they made love, although he remembered nothing about it afterwards. He met her several times after and again they made love, but this time he got her pregnant. Eric stole around fifty pounds from his fathers’ office to give to Eva to live on.

Eric also feels genuine of his responsibility for Eva Smith; this however could be due to the younger generation. Mr. and Mrs. Birling are quite ignorant and oblivious towards the death of Eva Smith. They seem so sure that they had no involvement with the suicide of Eva. However, Eric appears to understand what he did, “….It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters”.

Before the inspector leaves, he sums up by saying that there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths “all intertwined with our lives” and that because people do not live alone, they are “responsible for each other”. He threatens that if people cannot learn this lesson then they will soon be taught it “in fire and blood and anguish”. After he leaves, Mr. and Mrs. Birling round on Eric, blaming him for everything and saying they are ashamed of him. Sheila became quite angry at the way her parents seem to be ignoring the lesson they should have learnt.
The inspectors’ message is that a great wrong has been committed. Although only Eric has committed a crime in the legal sense of the word, the inspector has strained them all to see that it is not enough simply to behave in a “proper” way, according to a “code of manners”.

Gerald Croft knew Eva Smith, although her name had changed to Daisy Renton. He met her in a bar at the palace bar. Then, they went for a drink and chat at the country hotel. She was broke and hungry and Gerald made the hotel find her some food. They met again two nights later, and he let her use the rooms in the town, he also gave her money. They eventually became lovers. After, Gerald went away on business for a few weeks and that’s when the affair ended and Eva left the rooms.

Gerald’s first impulse is to conceal his involvement with Eva; but unlike Mr. and Mrs. Birling he shows genuine sorrow when the news of her death finally sinks in.

Gerald helped Eva out of real sympathy for her situation and did not take advantage of her in the violent and drunken way in which Eric did. Gerald did make Eva truly happy for a time, and in many ways is the least to blame for her death.

The play points out the need for a sense of personal responsibility in every member of society: responsibilities not only for individual actions, but also for the way actions affect others. The inspector voices these views most strongly, but is joined by Sheila and, to a lesser degree, Eric. In a sense, these characters act as the communal conscience of the other characters. Arthur Birling, whose driving concern is self-interest, expresses the opposite view.

Different characters react to their guilt in different ways, when it is revealed to them. Not all show regret or shame, and some are so hardened that they refuse even to accept that guilt is appropriate. There is a tendency for the younger people to be most likely to show shame. Priestley suggests that wrongdoing is rather like a disease, eating away from inside. The characters must realize, accept and be responsible for the true results of what they have done, if they are to recover their compassion. Guilt is vital before healing can begin.

To conclude, in my own opinion I personally think all of the characters are involved in their own way, although it may not have been a criminal crime it was a moral crime. They all played apart in Eva Smiths’ suicide and unless they all start to take responsibility for their actions and know what they did was wrong, then they will keep going back to the way they used to be, with ignorance blinding them.