An Inspector Calls – J.B. Priestley

Patrick Dempsey

An Inspector Calls – J.B. Priestley

In ‘An Inspector Calls’ there are many themes: two could credibly be considered most important; these are social justice and the individual characters’ responsibility for the death of Eva Smith.

Sheila is one of the most prominent characters. She realises that she is near the top of the social ladder and is prepared to use this influential position to manipulate situations to her advantage. This is particularly evident when she tells the inspector about the incident in the dress shop in which she got Eva Smith fired. However, once she has realised how she acted and what the consequences of her actions were she alters this view. Although the consequences were entirely unintentional, Sheila still feels considerable guilt and this is probably what causes her to change her view.

Eric’s behaviour pattern is similar to Sheila’s, in that he feels immense guilt for Eva’s death, which, like Sheila, causes him to change his views and reconsider before resuming his customary irresponsible behaviour. The death of Eva Smith is, for Eric, a metaphorical slap in the face. Before the death of Eva he is remarkably irresponsible, even ‘a bit of a lad’, if you will, this point is proved by his heavy drinking and the situation that it gets him into. This is the case until the penultimate act when Eric finally comes to terms with the fact that he is partly responsible for Eva’s death and, like Sheila, he becomes more responsible as a result of his feeling of guilt.

The inspector, Inspector Goole, attributes the change in opinion which Eric and Sheila go though to their youth and juvenility, as is clear when he says; “it’s always the young ones”, referring to Eric and Sheila, when they showed signs of distress and changed their views toward the end of the play when being asked to recall their actions in relation to Eva Smith.

At the end of the story both Eric and Sheila feel that something should be done about Eva’s death and that the family should try to repay their moral debts. Gerald and the ...

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At the end of the story both Eric and Sheila feel that something should be done about Eva’s death and that the family should try to repay their moral debts. Gerald and the rest of the family feel that the death was completely unrelated to them, and that their all having had at least social relations with Eva just before her death was completely coincidental. This illustrates a great deal about the characters both individually and as a group. It portrays Gerald, Mr. Birling and Mrs. Birling as fairly ruthless people who would rather the problem were swept promptly under the carpet and forgotten about.

The three characters all have different motives for wanting to adopt this strategy. Mr. Birling feels; if it became public knowledge, his anticipated knighthood would be jeopardised. Priestley thus portrays Mr. Birling as callously prepared to achieve his aims without concern for the distress, ruin or even death, which the fulfilment of these ambitions may mean for other people. His motives are, however almost completely unrelated to the death of Eva Smith as Mr. Birling played possibly the smallest part in her death. This implies that Mr. Birling’s position is owed mainly to his personal interests -such as his knighthood- and not to a feeling of guilt. Mr. Birling is possibly one of the only characters that do not express any obvious guilt; could this be because he plays, arguably, the smallest role in Eva’s death? Or, on the other hand could this be indicating that he is rather thick-skinned and pitiless?

Mrs. Birling's motive is similar in that she wants to save face, or rather her organization’s face in the public view. She, like Mr. Birling, does not feel any guilt for Eva’s death. She admits to this quite bluntly in act two when she says; “If you think you can bring any pressure to bear upon me, Inspector, you’re quite mistaken…I did nothing I am ashamed of…I used my influence to have it [Eva’s claim for financial support from Mrs. Birling’s organization] refused. And in spite of what’s happened to the girl since, I consider I did my duty…you have no power to change my mind.” So it could be concluded that Mrs. Birling shares her husband’s view, and is also rather thick-skinned and pitiless.

Gerald is not however trying to save face in front of anyone whether it is the public or the Birlings, although in one respect his view is exactly equivalent to that of Mr. and Mrs. Birling in that he feels no guilt whatsoever. This cannot be attributed to anything other than simply selfishness and over-confidence. This only seems to be the case in the latter part of the play, however. He says in act two, when referring to the state in which he left Eva Smith; “She didn’t blame me at all. I wish to god she had now. Perhaps I’d feel better about it now.” This gives the impression that he is feeling guilty about the way he treated Eva Smith. However, this interpretation is later proved wrong; in act three when Sheila remarks; “Between us we drove that girl to commit suicide.” And Gerald replies, “Did we? Who says so?” In saying this it is obvious that he has missed the point, which Sheila later explains – “But you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said happened really happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done.” Gerald responds to this argument by saying; “Everything is all right now, Sheila” This proves that although he may have felt guilty for Eva Smith’s death he, in no uncertain terms, did not feel guilty for the way he treated Eva. This is most probably because of his selfish personality.

J.B. Preistley has also incorporated the theme of social justice into this play. He conveys it in various different ways. The first time this theme enters the story is near the beginning when it is revealed that Gerald’s parent will not be attending dinner at the Birlings’ home because of a “subsequent engagement.” It may well be the case that Gerald’s parents are actually too busy to attend but more likely is that they are not pleased with the fact that their son is engaged to a middle-class girl, as they are titled ‘old money’ and the Birlings are neither titled nor ‘old money’.

This theme is conveyed again throughout most of the book using the character of Eva Smith and the way in which the other characters act towards her and treat her; they do this as if she is a second-class citizen and much lower down the social hierarchy than they. This is true, she is lower down the social hierarchy than they are, but this poses the question; should they really be treating her in such a manner? A good example of Eva being mistreated by one of the other characters is in the dress shop where she is working, and because of jealousy Sheila uses her power to get Eva fired. Another example is that of the relationship between Eric and Sheila. Eric treats her with little respect and then he gets her pregnant and leaves her, and at the time in which the story is set this would ruin her life and abolish any chances she had of finding a husband in the future.