An Inspector Calls is About our Responsibilities Towards Each Other Discuss.
An Inspector Calls is About our Responsibilities Towards Each Other Discuss
The play 'An Inspector Calls' was written in 1943 but was set in 1917. This enabled Priestly to say things about the 'future'. J B Priestly wrote this play as he saw an urgent need for social change and used the play to express his desire for social equality. This play makes us aware of what has happened and learn from mistakes made. Priestly hoped his play would give society the chance with hindsight to look back on the past and not just carry on life in the same way as before. Priestly took full advantage of writing in hindsight and makes sure that it will make the audience realise how wrong they may have been in assuming future events. The play is set in an industrial city in the Midlands of 1917 and concerns a wealthy industrial Arthur Birling, his family, his daughter's fiancé Gerald Croft and an Inspector. It shows how the family each help to destroy a young woman's life-Eva Smith through their selfish and callous attitudes which results in her death. The play runs parallel to what was happening to society at the time. Each uncaring action or statement is backed up with ensuing consequences. The play opens with a conversation between Mr. Birling and family and Gerald Croft. The family is sitting in their living room celebrating the success of their daughter's engagement to the son of a businessman of similar status as the Birling family.
The inspector is the catalyst for the events of the play. He makes us realise the Birling family's responsibilities. He makes the characters and audience realise that everything we do has a consequence and that we must think about our actions. He guides the audience through the play and creates tension and revelations.
Was it murder or suicide? J.B. Priestly's 'An Inspector Calls' is a tragic play about a girl named Eva Smith who died in a forced suicide, but who was responsible? There where many people in Eva's life that treated her unfairly. Each person pushed her closer to suicide, but no one person was solely responsible for her death. Whether one person deserves to take more of the blame than another is difficult to say. In my opinion, three people stand out and seem the most responsible. These people are Mr. Birling, Gerald and Sheila Birling. These people all treated Eva unfairly and are all partly responsible for her death. We must remember that these three people are not responsible for any actual crime but they all contributed to the downfall of a particular person due to their attitudes and beliefs.
Mr. Birling was the first to have contact with Eva and I believe he started the string of unfortunate events that ultimately led to the death of Eva Smith. He hired Eva at his works and not long after, he fired her. Eva was unsatisfied with her wage of twenty-two shillings and a sixpence so she started a strike demanding a wage of only twenty-five shillings. Mr. Birling refused and without a second of consideration for Eva, he fired her. Mr. Birling was very ignorant and this ignorance convinced him he was right. When he was asked why ...
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Mr. Birling was the first to have contact with Eva and I believe he started the string of unfortunate events that ultimately led to the death of Eva Smith. He hired Eva at his works and not long after, he fired her. Eva was unsatisfied with her wage of twenty-two shillings and a sixpence so she started a strike demanding a wage of only twenty-five shillings. Mr. Birling refused and without a second of consideration for Eva, he fired her. Mr. Birling was very ignorant and this ignorance convinced him he was right. When he was asked why he fired Eva, he answered, "Well, it's my duty to keep labour costs down, and if I'd agreed to this demand for a new rate we'd have added about twelve per cent to our labour costs." (Act one page 15 lines 8-10) Mr. Birling failed to see any wrong in his actions and refused to accept responsibility. When told of the consequences of his actions, that Eva was out of work for two months and desperate for money, Mr. Birling showed no remorse. He explained that, "The girl had been causing trouble in the works. I was quite justified" (Act one page 17 lines 28-29) Mr. Birling always seems to want his own way and when he does not get it he resorts to threatening behavior which clearly would make him unpopular with the audience. When Mr. Birling felt that the Inspector was asking too many questions Mr. Birling says about the chief constable, "Perhaps I ought to warn you that he is an old friend of mine." Even before the Inspector had arrived we see Mr. Birling in an unfavorable light. For example in an attempt to be intellectual he says things that we now know to be completely untrue such as describing the Titanic as "Completely unsinkable" and saying "The Germans don't want war". Mr. Birling is a cold, selfish and ignorant man. His selfish behavior drove Eva to suicide, but in his selfish eyes, he sees no wrong.
Sheila was also partly to blame, but to what extent? It seems that Sheila played a very small part in Eva's death, but in my opinion this is not the case. She wrongfully used her position as an important customer to turn Eva out of a job. This was undoubtedly a major factor in Eva's death. She even admits, "it was my own fault", and that she "was in a furious temper" She was jealous of Eva describing her as a "very pretty girl too - with big dark eyes". Although her actions show her to be a bad tempered, jealous and malicious person, you get the impression as she begins to talk that that is quite a harsh view of her and that although she does have bad characteristics, she isn't really as bad as you first think her to be. She shows herself to be honest admitting straight away all that she had done, that she caught sight of her smiling at the assistant and "I was furious with her". Sheila does show empathy for Eva which is more than her father, Mr. Birling did. It is obvious that she does regret all that she had done with regard to Eva claiming that, "If I could help her now I would". Sheila comes across as very remorseful as she says "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse". She bitterly resents what she did as well promising that "I'll never, never do it again". This makes you feel less anger for Sheila who now feels immense guilt and has now been punished severely simply by knowing the implications her temper and jealousy had. Sheila was undoubtedly partly responsible but she has the decency to admit this. Unlike her father, Mr. Birling, she regrets her actions and feels immense guilt.
Thirdly, Gerald is also partly responsible for Eva's death because he rejected her. Gerald first met Daisy in a bar at the theatre. He saw Alderman Meggarty harassing her and went to her rescue. He took her for a drink and a meal because he pitied her and he learnt she was desperate and so let her use his friend's rooms. She then became his mistress and they were together for the whole summer of 1911. He finished with her and cast her aside because of his relationship with Sheila Birling. Although he was probably fond of Daisy, there was never going to be any future in the relationship because of the class differences. Gerald was the son of Lord and Lady Croft and would be expected to marry someone of similar social standing. This was more important in the early 1900's. Even Arthur Birling feels socially inferior and boasts about a possible knighthood to increase his own importance. Being rejected by Gerald was probably more hurtful to Daisy than the dismissals inflicted on her by Arthur and Sheila Birling because there were strong emotions involved. Daisy was in love with Gerald and being thrown out by him left her not only homeless but heartbroken. Also she had been cared for by Gerald and enjoyed quite a luxurious lifestyle. She therefore had more to lose than previously. The drain on her emotions would have left her with less fighting spirit so her future looked even bleaker for her.
We gain a lot of respect for Eva during this rejection. She behaves with dignity, and puts Gerald's feelings first. She doesn't create any scenes, plead with him or even cry she just goes quietly to make it easier for him. It is difficult to decide how much to blame Gerald. On the one hand he cares for Daisy but on the other hand gives her a taste of a lifestyle she loves but cannot have. He leaves her in a worse state than either Arthur or Sheila had. Gerald's comment that young women should be "protected against unpleasant and disturbing things" is rather hypocritical in the light of what he's done to Daisy. Perhaps he doesn't feel lower class women need this protection, which would be a fairly typical attitude of rich young men of that time. They would have no conscience about "using" girls like Daisy.
I don't think Sheila should bear as much blame as the others should. She acted in a fit of pique and instantly regretted it. Her behavior was typical of a girl from a wealthy upper-middle class family. She always expected to get her own way and to be shown respect by her social inferiors. Today it would be unheard of for a worker to be sacked for grinning. In those days labour was plentiful and cheap and there were no employment laws to protect workers, so it was easy for people to dismiss someone instantly.
I believe Arthur Birling's actions also seem a lot worse than they actually were. The decision he made seem to be very unfair but if we take a minute to think about this from his point of view, it seems unfair for us to pin most of the blame on him. He made the decision to fire Eva for the good of the company. He saw Eva as a troublemaker and his decision to fire her was probably justifiable at that time when the welfare of the workers was not considered. Many people would have made the same decision. However, the fact that his view may be shared by many doesn't mean that it is right. He didn't think about the position he was putting Eva in and if he did, she might not have committed suicide.
I believe Gerald is most to blame for the suicide of Eva Smith. This is because being rejected by Gerald was probably more hurtful to Daisy or Eva than the dismissals inflicted on her by Arthur and Sheila Birling because there were strong emotions involved. Daisy was in love with Gerald and being thrown out by him left her not only homeless but heartbroken. Also she had been cared for by Gerald and enjoyed quite a luxurious lifestyle. She therefore had more to lose than previously. The drain on her emotions would have left her with less fighting spirit so her future looked even worse.
It would be unfair to blame a single person, as each character contributed to the death of Eva Smith. It may be more wise to blame society and they way in which we live, as it is Eva Smith's class and time that set her apart. No real crime has been committed and it is more a case of social conscience, consequently the family should share a moral responsibility and their future actions affected to aid others and not just themselves. The play is not so much about the Birling family themselves, but about society in general, this is shrewdly performed by Priestley as he manipulates the effect of time difference to get his message across.
Towards the end of the play, the inspector makes a speech, (Act three page 56 lines 23-33). The speech starts with "But just remember this", this shows power from the inspector. He also mentions that "We don't live alone, we are all members of one body." This shows how close we all are. This was a very important speech as it makes the characters as well as the audience realise that there as so many people who are like Eva Smith and if we don't look after each other, people will keep dying as Eva did. The speech was immensely important. The speech was engaged by the audience and creates tension.
Overall, the play makes people think about themselves and attempt to recall any past events, which in some way or another mirror the events of the play. The play promotes a healthy society in which, people all realise they share a responsibility to look after each other. This is clearly visible through the events of the play. Eva Smith died as a result of the selfish mentality of the Birlings. I believe this mentality was shared by the majority of the society at the time and Priestly attempted to change that. The inspector guides the audience through the play a reveals how people were responsible of the death of Eva Smith. This also makes the audience realise even though what they did didn't seem too bad at the start, it can lead to a tragic death.
In conclusion, this play makes a very important statement about our responsibility towards each other. This is made explicit by the inspector's speech. In this speech he mentions that that "We don't live alone, we are all members of one body." (Act three page 56 lines 23-33). This is telling the characters, but more importantly the audiences, that there are many people who are exactly the same as Eva Smith and we all share a responsibility towards each other. Also, in the play, we see that the younger generations care about Eva but the older generations do not. This is a positive thing because the younger people have learnt from the mistakes of the older generations.
Wai-Sing Ma
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