At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling says, “The Titanic, unsinkable.” The upper classes stood a much better chance of survival than the lower classes when it sank, as indeed was the case in society itself. The 1945 audience knew the fate of the Titanic and so Mr. Birling immediately appears in a bad light although to be fair his view was that of everyone in 1912 and so he is a stereotype of society then. Mr. Birling’s attitude is shown in his words, “...A man has to make his own way ” and, referring to the working class, “If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people they’ll soon be asking for the earth”. Mr. Birling has a selfish attitude towards life, and also an attitude to only care for himself and family, and basically forget everybody else, in fact, this is exactly what he tells a speech on at the celebration of Sheila’s and Gerald’s engagement, “... a man has to look after himself - and his family too, of course...” which gives the impression of the selfishness, and also greed. Another example of this is when he tells a speech about how it is the best day of his life, “Gerald, I’m going to tell you frankly, without any pretences, that your engagement with Sheila means a lot to me. She’ll make you happy, and I’m sure you’ll make her happy. Your just the type of son-in-law I wanted...” makes people think whether he wants them to get married for themselves, or for him, and whether it means a lot to him sentimentally, or a lot to him in the business world.
Birling’s first priority is to make money, “It’s my duty to keep labour cost down” and is also a social climber, and Sheila is engaged to the son of his “friendly” rival, which is why it could mean a lot to him in the business world because Gerald’s father is in a higher class than the Birling family. Sheila has a totally different attitude to Birling, and we see this emphasized as the play progresses. She is very happy with life at the beginning of the play, young, and attractive. Although later her happiness and love of her family are put to the test. According to Priestley Sheila is a woman who is will to listen and change. Sheila is a woman for the future and she is trying to break the boundaries of that period in time.
Both of the characters react differently to the death of Eva Smith in different ways. Mr Birling tries to “make everything better” by using his money, “Look inspector, I’d give thousands…” I think this may be a “domineering” attitude, because he wants to dominate people, and do all he can to do it, which reflects on how he treats his employee’s. 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 returns by sacking one member of the “strike” pack, Eva/Daisy Smith. After this, Birling was blamed for starting the “domino” effect of Eva/Daisy’s suicide, but refuses to accept the blame. When the inspector asks questions about and to 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. Mr Birling does not care one bit and in no way does he think that he is responsible for Eva Smith’s death. Mr Birling when he finds out about the death sticks to his morals and he is very stubborn. If he never found it out to be a hoax he might have questioned his morals but once he finds out that it is a hoax he just slips back into his old way.
Sheila’s response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things, which I think, came out of the play. She is genuinely upset with the death of Eva/Daisy, and learns from her actions, unlike Birling. Not only she admits her faults and it seems as though see takes too much guilt on her shoulders, but seems keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, “I’ll never do it again” she exclaims. I think Sheila is aware of the mystery surrounding the inspector, yet realizes there is no point in hiding the facts from him, which is also a totally different attitude to Birling, because Birling seems to think he can hide the facts, and it will be okay, but Sheila, unlike Birling is not bothered about impairing her reputation, she is only bothered about the suicide. Sheila is amazed that her parents have not learned anything from the episode, and thinks that even though the inspector may be a hoax, I think she is convinced that her parents behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner, the way they were hiding facts, etc. In Act I Sheila says, “I don’t come into this suicide business”. But when she realises that due to her selfishness and jealously she had made Eva lose her job at the shop, she is sorry but also her regret is linked to the fact that she will not be able to go back to her favourite shop. She is still thinking of her own pleasures. She says, “I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it”. Its as though she is learning from scene to scene to her fathers ways are wrong and she should follow what she thinks is right instead.
When the inspector turns out to be a hoax this affects Arthur and Sheila in different ways. Arthur is all gleeful because this means that his reputation is safe and that the scandal wont get out into the public. Sheila on the other hand has a different view on the happenings that went on that day. Although the inspector was a hoax and the girl wasn’t dead all the things that everyone did to her really happened. Sheila was trying to make everyone see that. She is really angry that her parents are just going to go on the way they always have and she says, “So nothing really happened. So there’s nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn. We can all go on behaving just as we did”. Sheila doesn’t like this and she lets them know how she feels. After this the family learn that a girl has just died after swallowing disinfectant and they all stare guiltily and dumbfounded at each other.
On stage I would have the House that the Birlings live in. It would have one room, which would be the dining room in which they are celebrating. The walls of the house would be able to open revealing the dining room. The actors however would be outside of the dining room in the street so the audience could view what's happening and to give the actors more room to perform. The Street and the Inspector represent 1945 and by having the Birlings on the street and not having the Inspector in the house which represents 1912 it would show that the only way is forward and that there is no going back .The house would have a door at the back so actors could exit to the rest of the house which would not be in view to the audience. When Sheila find out that her mother had only spoken to Eva about two weeks ago then I would have Sheila jumping out of her chair in amazement. It would also help if she did a lot of crying in the play to show the audience that she is truly and deeply moved by what has happened in contrast to her father who doesn’t flinch and thinks that he is always in the right.
The play was written in 1945, the final year of the Second World War. Priestley 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 1920’s and 1930’s were a time of unemployment, strikes and depression. This time around, Priestley says, things could really improve if only 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 have not yet happened and the characters might have a chance to change their actions, reflects this - there was a Second World War and people have a second chance to change things. The older 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 conclusion, this play is a comment on the society of the Edwardian age, as well as being a play about relationships as a whole. Priestley sets out to show the failings of that society and succeeds.
