In this essay I will be describing Mr Birling and Sheila. Mr Birling is described as being “rather portentous”; he is a businessman, a “self-made man”. His first main concern is to make money. When Inspector Goole asks him about the reasons why he discharged Eva Smith or Daisy Renton, Birling gives a dialogue about he had been “giving these young men a little good advice”, then he explains about Eva Smith. At the end he says, “I refused, of course”, this was his reaction to her asking for a pay-rise. Goole asks why and Birling is very surprised.
Birling welcomes his daughter’s fiancé, even though Gerald’s mother is totally against the marriage, as she believes he is marrying underneath them socially. He refuses to accept any responsibility for Eva’s suicide and he gets unusually irritated by the Inspectors constant questioning of his family.
Sheila is a young, attractive young lady who has recently become engaged. She is “very pleased with life”. Sheila is the only person at the dinner table who seems genuinely upset by the news of Eva Smith. She is distraught when the Inspector explains the details of her suicide. She thinks that her father’s attitude and behaviour towards the matter is totally disgusting. She shows this by saying, “these people aren’t just cheap labour, they are people”.
When Sheila is told about her part in the suicide, she accepts all responsibility, she truly feels really bad. She is the only character to do this. She is not ashamed to admit her faults and she is also anxious to change her behaviour, “it will never, never happen again”, she stresses this.
The group have all different reactions to Inspector Goole’s entrance and the suicide of Eva Smith. When Goole arrives Birling says, have a glass of port – or a little whisky?” he is very welcoming towards him. When the Inspector starts to tell the characters about the reason he is there Birling becomes angry and uptight. When Sheila comes in to ask when he is going to join his wife in the streets, she becomes very curious and interrupts with, “what’s this about streets?” When she notices Inspector Goole she immediately becomes very lady-like. The Inspector explains why he is there and she becomes very upset, she behaves as if she knew Eva Smith very well. Mr Birling still has the attitude of “I still can’t accept any responsibility”.
Mr Birling is partly responsible for Eva Smith’s suicide he discharged her from his factory for “suddenly wanting more money”, he was responsible for her being out of work for two months, being forced into lodgings and being “half-starved”. Overall he is not totally responsible for the suicide itself. Birling’s son, Eric, causes this. He paid Eva for sexual intercourse when she became a prostitute and she fell pregnant with his lovechild. Birling is wounded and disappointed when he finds this out, “you damned fool - why didn't you come to me when you found yourself in this mess?” Eric’s reply to this was that his father was not the kind of person you come to. This shows that Birling was never close to his son. He accepts absolutely no responsibility still, unlike Sheila who accepts all responsibility.
J. B. Priestley uses dramatic devices and dramatic irony in the play. His main device was the photograph and his main ironic character is Mr Birling. When Inspector Goole reveals he has a photograph, this creates tension and shows the characters reactions to the photograph, an example of this is Sheila, when she sees the photograph she starts to cry and she flees from the room and when she returns she is anxious to admit her wrong-doings. Also she decides she cannot marry Gerald after he was involved with Daisy Renton.
Mr Birling represents a very unattractive and selfish kind of man. He is obsessed by money. Even at the end of the play he feels sorry for what has happened but he still thinks in terms of money. He says to the Inspector “look, Inspector - I'd give thousands”. Although everything has been revealed about his family, he still tries to disguise this. When the possibility of the Inspector being a deceiver, he happily believes that it never happened and that if the Inspector was fake, so must the things that emerged. He impersonates the Inspector . This is example of pride before the phone rings. His pride makes you think that it was all a hoax but when the telephone rings it makes you wonder.
Mr Birling represents Priestley’s hate of businessmen whose only care is making a profit. He will never learn from his mistakes.
Sheila is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him. She is stable about the breaking up of her engagement and remains cool, calm and collected. She will not be hurried into accepting the wedding ring back once the Inspector had left, she is unable to accept her parent’s attitude and behaviour towards the Inspector and she is both amazed and concerned that they haven't learned anything from the occurrence. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner, she feels. She also learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself and the importance of the community. She is sensitive towards everything. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents.
This play was relevant to the audience at that time; it was like “déjà vu” of their past. Priestly feels guilty about the lower classes so he tries to demolish stereotypes, i.e. Eva being a “normal” unemployed girl of her time. Inspector Goole is Priestley’s perspective.
The message the play is trying to convey is that we should take responsibility for our actions and consider the consequences the might have for other members of society. Priestley is also trying to say that you shouldn’t keep things secret because you conscience will unravel them.
By Paul Archer