To illustrate my point I’m going to describe to you in detail the scene is in Act three. It is after the inspector has made his final key speech. He warns of how ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. I wanted to spell it out to members of my predominaly middle class audience that this is what I was trying to say during the play. The inspector threatens a revolution ‘if men will not learn that lesson, then they will taught it in fire and blood and anguish’. I know this is a very serious and highly controversial thing to say and must feel like I’m lecturing them. It makes the point that not taking responsibility for your actions, not thinking of others can have severe consequences even death. The inspector leave straight after this speech which I think delivers a big impact. He leaves the Birlings alone to deal with what they have done.
There are lots of stage directions after the speech because I felt this was a very important part in the play and I wanted to heighten the dramatic tension the family are all ‘staring subdued and wondering’. I detail exactly what each person should be doing, Shelia is crying, Mrs Birling has collapsed into a chair, Eric is brooding desperately and Mr birling is not quite sure what to do so gets himself a drink. He is the first one to break the silence but not to say anything positive ‘(angrily to Eric) you’re the one I blame for this’. Eric is not bothered by this comment ‘ I ‘ll bet I am’ implying he frequently gets the blame for things that go wrong in the Birling house hold. Eric’s response shows his mood is different from the beginning of the play. Then he was very relaxed and ‘suddenly guffaws’ during dinner . Eric was not in a serous mood and behaving in a silly way. He seems to have become serious by act three because of the events that have been uncovered.
The family are now left alone in the house with Gerald and the Inspector gone. This scene highlights clearly the differences between Mr Birling and his son Eric. They have a strained relationship. Eric’s attitude is ‘Oh – for God’s sake! What does it matter now whether they give you a knighthood or not?’. Birlings beliefs are in the status quo and he also wants to be respectable. Eric however does not care about appearing respectable he cares about Smith. Eric political beliefs lean left. Father and son have directly opposing political beliefs.
Mr and Mrs Birling think very differently from their children. Sheila seems to be speaking for the inspector ‘ I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it. But now you’re beginning all over again to pretend that NOTHING MUCH HADS HAPPENED’ Mr and mrs birling are acting as they were before the inspector called they have not learnt anything from the experience ‘there’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did’ says birling. Birling is worried because ‘ Nothing much has happened haven’t I already said there’ll bea public scandal’. Something bad has happened and it is the death of a young girl which is far more important than what the neighbours think.
Sheila begins to think that maybe the inspector was not a real police inspector ‘It doesn’t matter much now, of course – but was he really a police inspector?’. I thought adding in the element of him not really being police inspector but a ghost of some kind would add even more emphasis the fact even more that it does not matter who found out what the birlings had to done to Smith, they still did it.
It matters to Mr Birling if he was really a police inspector ‘it matters a devil of a lot. Makes all the difference’ because if anyone found out he would lose his chance of a knighthood. This is further point of friction between the older and younger Birlings. Shelia and Eric are young and could chance and see where things were going wrong. It doesn’t matters them that the inspector might not have been genuine. Birling thinks now he’s not to blame. Shelia sums it up by saying ‘But don’t you see if all that’s come out tonight is true, then it doesn’t much matter who it was who it was that made us confess.
There is a big contrast between this scene in Act three and the Act One. Birling reflects ‘what I was feeling when the fire of us down to dinner a that table’. I refer back to act to show the contrast in the family’s relationships. The children are now at odds with their parents their attitudes. Eric says in response to Birling when you were feeling so pleased with Yourself? You told us a man has to make his own way…we weren’t to take any notice of these cranks walked in’. the cranks Eric is referring to myself I am aware that at this time some people thought of the socialists as cranks but that is an out dated tone and we are governed by these cranks.
It is obvious by this stage that Eric is getting more and more angry and has a sarcastic tone of voice. I put in the stage directions that Eric ‘laughs bitterly’ I tried to give the impression that Eric was completely un-nerved by the whole experience and could at any moment breakdown. He felt bad about the part he played in Eva Smith’s death. I thought this would add an element of tension to the play.
To stage the play I would recommend keeping the furniture on the to the minimum. There should be a large table with chairs around it. There could be a decanter and some glasses on a small table to the side of the set. I also recommend that light changes when the inspector leaves. It should become slightly darker to illustrate the change in the play. The mood has changed the birlings and tired and emotional and have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
During the scene I’ve just described most of the characters are standing around not quite sure what to do. The chairs should not be neatly pushed under the table but pulled out and at odd angles because this would fit in well with the scene. The inspector has just dropped a bomb shell and the stage should reflect this.
The characters in the play have all had things exposed about then that they thought were secret. How they deal with these things are important Shelia for example feels remorse about what she at ‘Milwards’ shop getting Eva Smith sacked . She has learnt from this experience to think of others more. After the In spector leaves she acts a s his mouthpiece, she makes a speech a at the end remaining the family of what they have done, as I imagine the inspector would do ‘You turned the girl out of one job and I had her turned out of another. Gerald kept her at a time when he was supposed to be too busy too see me’.
Eric also feels bad about what he did and is in trouble for stealing money to give to Smith. He is not worried about the money but what happened to Smith in the end. Birling is annoyed by the whole experience and is especially annoyed about the money that Eric stole until every penny of that money you stole is repaid, you’ll work for nothing’. Mrs Birling like Birling is angry and also thinks that ‘Eric . I’m ashamed of you’. Eric points out that he is ‘ashamed of you as well’ because of his parents lack of compassion. Birling is ashamed of Eric because he stole from him and did not come to him for help. He is not so worried that Eric was involved with a prostitute and had fathered a child. He said to Shelia when he found out about Gerald had been involved with a prostitute ‘Sheila, a lot of young men…’. Eric is ashamed that he was responsible for the death of a person and that he could not help her.
I believe the scene I have just described is important because this is when the inspector says exactly what he thinks. Before he had been fairly impartial. It is also the point where the family realise the inspector is not real. We also see the family alone without Gerald or the Inspector. I wanted to show in the play that compassion and understanding must start at home if it to be shown to the rest of the society. Birling and Eric are an example of conflict within the family unit.
