The first character I am going to look at within this play is Mr Birling. Arthur Birling is a “hard headed business man”, who “is heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech”. He considers himself to have a very high status in society. He is a prosperous factory owner, a local magistrate an ex-lord mayor of brumley. Birling regards himself as being reasonable, but his first priority is to make money “ Its my duty to keep labour costs down” and therefore pays his employees no more than the going rate.
His key characteristics are his complacency. He is well off and he believes he always will be “we’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity”. This success, however, has been at the expense of others. He threw Eva out of her job for asking for a modest pay rise, and intends to work with Croft’s limited “ for lower costs and higher prices”, exploiting his power as a capitalist to profit at the expense of others.
Mr Birling, feels that he always knows what is best and likes to be the centre of attention, for example when Sheila receives her engagement ring from Gerald, she is very excited about the whole situation, but Birling begins to draw attention to himself, by telling everyone about the Titanic, an how technology has advanced, so much, that he can be sure to dismiss the possibility of the Titanic sinking. At this point dramatic irony is used well in this play with Birlings illusions of the titanic and war. The play was set before the war but published after, so the audience would know that Birling is completely wrong about the war and Titanic. This would cause amusement and also show Birling to be a fool, as priestly intended. His interruptions clearly contradict the care and responsibility he supposedly has for his family, “A man has to look after himself and his own”. Birling likes to boast a lot about him and how important he is.
Birling wants his family to be respected in society and so tries to encourage them to do things that will help them achieve an even higher status. For example he doesn’t really consider his daughters feelings towards her marriage to Gerald, he just encourages them as he hopes that it will unite his company with crofts ltd. This is why it appears that he regards his daughter’s marriage as an advantage to his company, almost like a business arrangement.
When the inspector arrives, the initial reaction Birling displays changes within a few moments. At first, he and Gerald joke about the reasons for the inspectors visit, as Birling feels that he has nothing to fear because of his high statusand contacts. He then talks about his jobs in the community and that he knows the Brumley police officers very well. “ I was an alderman for years and Lord mayor two years ago and I am still on the bench, so I know the Brumley police officers pretty well”. He says this so that the inspector is aware of his status and wont take things too far whatever Birling has done wrong but the inspector is unaffected by this and says “I’d like some information”. However, after the inspector reveals how Eva Smith died, and how this was related to Birling, he refuses to accept his responsibility.
Birling tries to justify his actions by telling the inspector about his refusal to listen to Eva’s request for a wage rise. Birling seems genuinely surprised when the inspector questions his actions. He also seems offended by the inspector’s interrogation, and also a little bewildered by the inspectors tone of voice. He becomes impatient with the inspectors subsequent questioning and so again reminds the inspector of his position in society He is constantly making social references to who he knows and how high up he is in status but the inspector never finds this interesting at all which angers Birling. Birling threatens to report the inspector as he feels he shouldn’t have to be subjected to this annoying inquiry.
Birling resents being challenged by the inspector and especially resents the suggestions that he just uses girls for cheap labour and getting rich on this exploitation. To Birling, as to others of his kind, workers were there to do a job and it was not his responsibility to look after their welfare. He firmly believed that he was being fair to his workers by paying them their going rates. Eva was getting “ twenty two and six” which compared well with a bricklayers labourer who got eighteen shillings and a police constable who got twenty seven shillings a week. So in his eyes he was not underpaying his workers by the standards of 1910.He considered it his duty to keep labour costs down and stamp out any unrest among his workforce.
In his factory, there are certain employees that ask for a pay rise, but Birling refuses to pay more than “the going rate”. Birling can afford the pay rise, but Birling refuses to pay more than the “going rate”. Although he can afford to give a pay rise, he sacks one of the “strike pack” members, Eva Smith. After this, Birling was blamed for starting the “domino” effect of Eva Smiths suicide, but refuses to accept the blame. When the inspector asks questions to/about his family, he tries to protect his reputation by acting the innocent to the questions, even though we know, that he knows the answers to the questions but wont tell them, to protect his reputation.
After the inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He can’t understand Sheila’s and Eric’s insistence that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that the scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right until the end, he claims “there’s every excuse for what your mother and I did- it just turned out unfortunately, that’s all”.
Birling does not care one bit and in no way thinks he is responsible for Eva Smith’s death. When he finds about the suicide he sticks to his morals and is very stubborn. If he never found out that the inspector was a hoax he may have questioned his morals but once he finds out that the inspector is a fake he just slips back into his old ways. He feels that if the inspector were a hoax no one would find out about his thoughtless and insensitive behaviour.
The next character I am going to discuss is Sheila. After being sacked from Birlings, Eva was out of work for two months but then she got a job, as a sales assistant in a clothes shop called Milwards.It was here where Sheila’s involvement took place. Sheila had been a valued customer at Milwards and used this to her advantage to get Eva dismissed. Sheila had complained about Eva, for laughing at her when she tried on a dress. What had perhaps annoyed Sheila more was that Eva looked better in that dress than she did. Eva was pretty and Sheila was jealous of her and because of this she “ couldn’t be sorry for her”.
Very early in the play when we hear about how Eva lost her job at Milwards, Sheila is seen to be insensitive towards other people’s feelings. She seems very selfish and full of self-importance. When she got Eva dismissed from her job she felt that she had a very high status in society, which gave her the power to be able to do this.
When Sheila finds out about her involvement in Eva Smith’s death she feels very guilty for getting Eva dismissed from her job. Sheila’s action was the result of a fit temper and she regretted it immediately. She seems genuine when she says “it’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anybody”. Eva’s second dismissal left her in an even worse state than her first dismissal and she becomes dependent. Sheila has been the cause of this further degeneration but we feel less liable to blame her because of her remorse.
I think as the inspector knew that Sheila being a young character, was most likely to admit her blame and accept the consequences of her actions it was only right for her to know that she was only partly to blame, which is why the inspector encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say, so she doesn’t feel entirely responsible.
Sheila is very quick to realise the inspectors motives, and tries to warn the other family members not to lie about their involvement with Eva Smiths death, as she is aware that the inspector is going to reach the bottom of the situation and make them all aware of their participation in Eva Smiths death. She has acknowledged that he will expose everything and tries to make the situation better by speeding up the questioning. She also tries to warn her mother about not immediately owning up to her responsibilities. I think Sheila is aware of the mystery surrounding the inspector, yet realises there is no point hiding facts from him.
Even after the inspectors exit and when they have discovered the inspector was a hoax, she is unable to accept that her parents have not learnt anything from the whole incident “ I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it, but now your beginning to pretend that nothing much has happened”. “You don’t seem to have learnt anything”, this is a very practical statement, and the audience are also aware that Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald have not learnt anything, contrasting to this, Sheila has changed and matured a lot prior to the inspectors visit. Her character has developed phenomenally throughout the play, from acting like a young naïve child to looking up to her parents to now telling her father exactly what she thinks of him and his actions.
Even though they discover the inspector is a false inspector, Sheila has an amazing amount of respect for the inspector “if all that came out tonight is true, it doesn’t much matter who made us confess”. Sheila has a very moral point of view and has taken the inspectors role once he has left the scene, reminding each character of their actions.
The final character I am going to look at is Eric. Eric is the youngest sibling of Sheila and appears to be a weak, lonely figure at the start of the play. His father and Gerald treat him like a child.
Within a few weeks after Gerald has finished with Daisy, she is back at palace bar, which is where she meets Eric. She is thinking again of becoming a prostitute to earn a living. Eric is drunk and insists on going home with her and threatens to make a row unless she lets him in. He sleeps with her on this one occasion and another two or three times. She then discovers she is pregnant but refuses to marry Eric, as he does not love her.
Although both Gerald and Eric have had sexual relationships with Daisy, Gerald had genuine feelings for her and looked after her for a time, whereas Eric “just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person”.
When Eric arrives home and finds the inspector waiting to question him, he immediately becomes tensed and uncomfortable. Before he is questioned he asks the inspector to allow him to have a drink, showing that |Eric is to some extent an alcoholic. It also shows that his state of mind is uneasy. He feels as if he is in an awkward situation, and starts to become really nervous and stressful resulting in him needing a drink. This is the first time in the play when everyone hears what Eric has to say, normally he is ignored.
By making her pregnant he put her in an unbearable position and therefore is very much to be blamed for her downfall. The only two things in his favour were that he was sorry for what he had done and he tried to help her financially but these came too late for Eva.
When the rest of the family’s connections are revealed to Eric he is initially shocked by his families actions. The inspector makes Eric feel more remorseful for what he has done however also gives Eric the courage to question his mother’s actions. Towards the end of the play he feels sympathy for the lower class people and has learnt from his mistakes even though he discovers the inspector was a hoax. The effect of the inspector has been to split the family irrevocably.
Throughout the play Priestly uses a number of dramatic devices to maintain the audiences interest, such as who is the inspector. Priestly keeps the audience in suspense by introducing the inspector as a ‘mysterious inspector’. He leaves the audience guessing throughout the whole play and even in the end. Who the inspector is has been left to the audience’s imagination.
Other dramatic devices used are the photo (we don’t know if the same photo is shown to everyone), how everything is linked in the “chain of events’ and the setting of the play. The first scene is set in a dining room with rose-coloured lighting (romantic and happy atmosphere), which suddenly changes to a harsher and brighter light when the inspector enters the scene. This could have been done to symbolise the truth being uncovered but also bringing the Birling to reality.
The finishing paragraph of the play shows the consequences that could happen if people act arrogantly, and when warned (in this case by the inspector) they don’t try to learn from their mistakes. The penultimate part of this play sums up the characters and summarises their behaviour throughout the play.
Sheila’s mature attitude was shown throughout the play, and her guilt and willingness to learn from her mistakes were also displayed. Sheila came out as a caring and thoughtful character and also an intelligent and realistic girl during and after the inspectorsvisit. Eric generally followed his sister, who emerged as a powerful character with moral beliefs, but their view came in conflict with the older generations. Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald. The older generation behaved irresponsibly, immature and insensibly towards the end of the play.
The play was written in 1945, the final year of the Second World War. Priestly was trying to show the predominantly middle class audience that despite all the death and destruction of the Great War, the working class were no better off. The 1920s and 1930s were a time of unemployment, strikes and depression. This time around, priestly says, things could really improve if people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them. The fact that his use of time sometimes makes it seem as if events might have not yet happened and the characters might have had a chance to change their actions, reflect this- there was a second world war and people have a second chance to change things. The older generation of the Birlings represent those who failed to learn from the First World War, while Sheila and Eric are the younger generation who still have a chance to learn and change. In this play priestly has set out to show the failings of society during that time.
