He creates tension and an impression of enormousness all over the play. This makes him very powerful and focuses the audience on his political and moral ideas, which seem directly to link with those of JB Priestley.
Priestly represents the aspect of extreme selfishness, capitalism and greed through the role of Mr: Birling. He is arrogant who always thinks he is right. He gives early predictions about the war and the future of the world at the beginning of the play. He says:
“the Titanic- she sails next week- forty-six thousand eight hundred tons- forty six thousand eight hundred tons- New York in five days- and every luxury- and unsinkable absolutely unsinkable”
His prediction about the war is anther proof of his overconfidence. He says there is only “very little chance” in the case of war. This is a dramatic irony because the audience know that the Titanic will sink and the war will kill millions.
He sacks Eva Smith from his job just because she stroked to raise the workers’ wages. He knows that what he done is unfair, but he do not want himself to accept it. He treats poor people as his slaves and animals. He only needs workers like Eva Smith to make profit for him and his business. In Mr: Birling’s factory, there are hundreds of woman working and he gives them very cheep wage, which will not be even enough to fill their stomach.
“We were paying the usual rates and if they didn't like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else."
Inspector clearly explains the situation of young woman like Eva, who works in factories and he force us to imagine ourselves in that place:
“I’ve thought that it would do us all a bit of good if some times we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their dingy little back bedrooms”
Even if Mr: Birling pretends, as he feels guilty on her death, at last he tries to cover up every thing. He tells to the inspector:
“Look Inspector-I'd give thousands-yes thousands...”
By saying this to the inspector, it is clear that Mr: Birling has not learned anything from the inspector yet and he just wants to protect his status.
When Birling says to Sheila:
“You’d better ask Gerald for that ring you gave back to him”
He says that he have no problem with what has happened because he is closing his eyes towards the fact that Gerald had still had an affair with another woman whilst he was in a hard relationship with Sheila.
In a way, Mr: Birling started of every event what happened to Eva.
The inspector then moves on to Sheila. Priestly describes her as a very pretty girl who is pleased and exited with her engagement to Gerald. Sheila seems like she knows that she is pretty and she do not want anyone else to be like her.
Sheila is the one who realised that the inspector is some strange person when she says:
“He is giving us rope- so that we'll hang ourselves"
When she saw Eva and realised that she is prettier than her, and when she thought that a dress looked very nice in Eva than it did on her, the jealous which was hiding on her, rise up. These words from her shows it:
“When I was looking at myself in the mirror I caught sight of her smiling at the assistant, and I was furious with her. I’d been in a bad temper anyhow”
Through what she have done to Eva, it is clear that she is very similar to her dad. To show how much power and wealth she has, she tells the shop manager that if they did not get rid of her, she will stop her account with them. Sheila might was a good customer of the shop and she might was buying many expensive items from the shop which will give benefit to the shopkeeper as well. This shows that the people were scared and obeyed the orders of the rich, ruling class people. They had a great power and strength over other people and they used this as a chance. They could do what ever they wish to the poor people to keep their standing.
She already began to change when she hears about what her dad did to a poor girl when she says:
“But these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people."
She admit that she have a big role in shoving Eva in to such a hideous death. The inspector was forcing her to think about what she had done to a poor girl. Inspector says that how much Sheila felt responsible for the girl’s death and will always feel if she did not hear the rest:
“She feels responsible. And if she leaves us now, and doesn’t here any more then she feel she’s entirely to blame, she’ll be alone with her responsibility”
Inspector also tells that after Eva was sacked from her job, she did not find out an option to move on. Because for a working class woman, it was very hard to find a job and there were no any social security at that time. As a result, she became a prostitute. According to a woman, that will be the atrocious job she could ever do. Inspector reminds Sheila that she helped to force Eva in to it. She always felt that what she did was depraved and the inspector played as a conscience for her.
Priestley symbolises the upper class through the role of Gerald. He was the son of Lord and Lady Croft. He is very rich and has a good standard in the society. Gerald tried not to reveal the truth but the inspector persuades him to say what he did. He founds out that Eva is homeless. He helps her by giving her a shelter and later he discovered her as his mistress. He says:
“I want you to understand that I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her. I made her go to Morgan Terrace because I was sorry for her”
Inspector says how much Eva wished not to end the relationship with Gerald because she loved him. He also confesses them that how rich people treats poor people as old, useless shoes which has to be thrown away.
He broke up with her by destroying the wings of her dreams and hopes about her future. Gerald accepts that he didn’t felt for her what she did felt for him, but it was very simple for Gerald to say that he broke up with her. It clearly shows that he was obviously interested and affected by her unexplainable beauty rather than her good personality when he says:
“She looked young fresh and charming”
He never thought about what Eva’s life would be if he left her. She dreamed a lot and build up hopes about a happy life with Gerald; but he just let her down.
The inspector explains what the higher class think about themselves that they were the finest and should obviously be the ones making decisions and conclusion in the case of lower class people. This shows the power and the wealth of ruling class people over the poor people. He says as if Gerald is just an example of that kind of people.
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Mrs: Birling is a character who always follows what her husband says. Mrs: Birling says that Eva came to her charity organization for help her child. However, Mrs: Birling does not believe her when she says that she refused the money given by Eric because it was stolen:
“a girl of that sort would ever refuse money."
Inspector says her that the charity was the last possibility of Eva’s life. She did not felt any penitent for the girl’s death. She describes lower class girls as:
“girls of that class”
This shows what were poor working class peoples for Mrs:Birling, as she describes Eva like that.
When Mrs: Birling refused to help her she lost all her hope and that will be the reason why she stepped towards suicide. However, Mrs: Birling still thinks that she just done her duty by refusing to help a poor woman who was pregnant. Mrs: Birling just gave her a last push by refusing to help her.
At that time women in ruling class like Mrs: Birling runs charities just to keep their standard in the society and to show their wealth. The money will be very little amount but they could still say that they give the money. By asking Mrs:Birling herself that who is to blame for Eva’s death, inspector tries to plead guilty to her, where she thinks that what she done is utter.
It was a stab for Mrs: Birling and the other family members when they realised that the hero of the story was Eric. When he came from out side, he knew that he could not wear any mask over the truth. He was not clear-headed when they both met. He persisted on going in to her house:
“I insisted- it seems. I’m not very clear about it, but afterwards she told me she didn’t want me to go in but that- well, I was in that sort of state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I threatened to make a row.”
This shows that most of the young people in ruling class people done this to the poor girls in working class people and they cannot resist or stop them.
When they met each other next time, Eva told Eric that she is pregnant. He was worried about her future and he tried to help her by giving her some money. He never found a way for some money and decided to steal from his father’s office. However, Eva realises that the money she receiving from Eric is stolen; she refuses to accept it. He explains how all things end up:
“She wouldn’t take any more, and she didn’t want to see me again”
He then leaved her to deal with her condition herself and make her feel reviled. She went to charity for help, but no miracle happened. Because even if anything happen to these girls, no one cares and they cannot do anything about it.
Eric becomes heart broken when he realises that his mother helped to kill his own baby. Eric feels guilty about what he had done to a poor girl. He learns many things from the inspector about treating the poor people in the right manner. He was along with Sheila in suggesting that what they all done are wrong. Eric feels exceptionally guilty in dragging Eva in to such a horrifying death. He shows his guilt through these words:
“Oh my God- how stupid it all is!”
At the end, he became aware of his social responsibilities through the inspector. The Inspector played as a confessor of Eric.
Personally, I think that all what happened to Eva is mainly because of Gerald. When he heard that Eva Smith changed her name in to Daisy Renton, he tried to reject knowing her. He hid that she was his mistress for a long time. There is no proof that all what he said is pure. The main reason why I am blaming Gerald is ‘Sheila’. Gerald was about to engage her at that time. He lied to her when she phoned him that he is busy with his work, when he was with Eva. Gerald’s rich father Mr: Croft might have said him to marry Sheila, who is Mr: Croft’s friend’s daughter and is rich too. When Gerald realises that Eva is a wall between him and Sheila, he manage to cut her off from his life forever, without feeling any mercy. He was interested in Eva’s unexplainable beauty rather than her good personality. She became his mistress because as he says:
"She was young and pretty and warm-hearted - and intensely grateful."
Gerald never thought about Eva. To get rid of Eva he makes a reason that he has to go somewhere related to his business. However, she already knew that every thing is coming to an end. Gerald always saw her as a poor working class girl, but she loved him so much. Gerald himself accepts that by saying:
“I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me”
He did not even thought about her when he broke up; he did not thought about her feelings. Gerald gave her many memories and that was the only thing that he gave to her. He thinks that Eva was very certain about where she have to go as he says:
“she was - very gallant – about it”
After Gerald left her, she would have returned to do the horrible job as a prostitute after leaving Brumley for two months. Gerald had a very important part in her life and what he done to her would have remained in her heart as a scar. At the end Gerald, act as if nothing had happened and was still interested in Sheila. Gerald has to be blamed for Eva’s death because even if inspector tried to confess him, he never changed his thoughts about classes and capitalism.
I think that Sheila learn the most from the Birling family rather than the others. Because when the inspector says that a girl died by drinking the disinfectant, she shows pity on her from the very beginning. When she realises that she has a part in her death, she feels guilty about what she had done. At last, when she finds out that every single one of them has a part on pushing a poor girl in to a horrible death, she feels ashamed of everything. She says
“It frightens me the way you talk”
At the end Sheila and Eric learns how to treat poor people by knowing their needs. Rather than that, they become angry to their parents who were trying to pretend as if nothing had happened. Sheila was ashamed of Gerald too, that he was just trying to give back the ring to her. She was not very eager to find out who the inspector was; she was interested about what he said and how he forced them to understand their public responsibilities. When other family members were finding out who the inspector was she says them that he made them confess. Sheila still reminds them:
“but you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said and happened really had happened”
When Sheila says 'he inspected us all right' she shows mellowness and sensibleness which is not imitating in her parents. J B Priestly is trying to show the difference between older generation and younger generation to understand that what they done are wrong. Mr and Mrs Birling are the older generation; so they have different opinions to their young children, Sheila and Eric. The younger generation gives hope for the future by realizing what they had done is wrong and leveling it by understanding their social relationships.
Mainly the moral Priestly conveys through ‘An Inspector Calls’ is that :
“we all shall share responsibilities for other people’s welfare”.
He also reminds us that:
“We all are members of one body”
Priestley’s social message for the working class people and the ruling class people is on the last speech of the inspector:
“One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness; all intertwined with our lives and what we think and say and do”
The inspector was saying that every people in the society has related to each other, just as every one of Birling family is linked to Eva’s death. He also alarms the audience about what is going to happen if we will not take responsibility for each other.
“And I tell you that the time will soon come when if men will not learn that lesson, when they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”
Priestley and the Inspector think that the people that employ and who think that one should only think of themselves are doing mistake. Priestley examples this by the character of Mr: Birling who thinks that everyone should be responsible for themselves. He thinks that:
“a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his family ofcourse”
Moreover, may be through using the phrase ‘fire and blood and anguish’ he will be warning us about the second world war which was just going to happen. Priestly is only saying this to men. Through that, he is also trying to say about the discrimination to women in lower classes at that time in Britain. They were not even allowed to vote.
Why did not he choose a John Smith instead of Eva Smith?
The inspector remains as a question. However, even if the inspector is a ghost or the voice of God, or Eva it self, it represents the view of priestly.