An Inspector Calls - Which character is most affected by the events in the play?

Which character is most affected by the events in the play?

“An inspector calls” was written around 1944 and is set around 1912. Arthur Birling, used to show the capitalist view, is self-indulged and says;

“A man has to look after himself” when they are talking about a community, showing he is selfish and only cares about his family and himself. He is also shown as a fool who thinks he knows everything about anything but clearly doesn’t. When he talks about the “unsinkable Titanic” and that “there isn’t a chance of war” shows he doesn’t know much because there were two wars between the setting of the play and the date it was written, and the Titanic also sunk.

When the family learn about the death of Eva, Mr Birling is the first to be questioned by the inspector. He resists questions from the inspector;

“I can’t think they can be of any great consequence.” He also uses his authority to try and avoid interrogation;

“Perhaps I’d ought to warn you [Chief Constable Colonel Roberts] is an old friend of mine” demonstrating his power and showing he is an upper class man. I don’t think Eva Smiths death affected Mr Birling much because he didn’t really know her. He does remember her as being a;

“Lively, good looking girl… a good worker too… ready for promotion.” But after the workers came back from holiday they went on strike for more money and because Mr Birling is selfish, he told her and a few others to; “clear out” because he is more interested in; “[keeping] labour costs down.” He doesn’t accept any responsibility because he was just doing what was best for the business.

When the inspector has left and Gerald fathoms that the inspector was a hoax, Mr Birling his and his family’s reputation stays as intact as it can. He shields the truth from Gerald so his parents, Sir George and Lady Croft, who are of higher status than the Birlings don’t find out about the details of the night. When Sheila says;

“Gerald might as well know,” Birling hastily replies;

“Now-now we needn’t bother him with all that stuff.” Which shows he doesn’t want his image ruined by the evenings events.

The second person to be questioned is Sheila. She is shocked to hear about Eva committing suicide;

“Oh- how horrible!” When she realises she has done something to contribute to Evas death, she blames everything on herself;

“So I’m really responsible?”

When the inspector is questioning her he is sympathetic and replies;

“No, not entirely” trying to make her feel better about what she has done.

Even though Sheila did little ...

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“Gerald might as well know,” Birling hastily replies;

“Now-now we needn’t bother him with all that stuff.” Which shows he doesn’t want his image ruined by the evenings events.

The second person to be questioned is Sheila. She is shocked to hear about Eva committing suicide;

“Oh- how horrible!” When she realises she has done something to contribute to Evas death, she blames everything on herself;

“So I’m really responsible?”

When the inspector is questioning her he is sympathetic and replies;

“No, not entirely” trying to make her feel better about what she has done.

Even though Sheila did little to contribute to Evas suicide she feels extremely guilty, regretful and wishes to change towards the end of the play;

“(Bitterly) I know. I had her turned out of her job. I started it.” Although Mr Birling and Sheila didn’t know Eva Smith, Gerald got to know her properly. He met her in March 1911 at the Palace Bar. They started talking and he found out that;

“She hadn’t any more money and she was hungry.” So he put her up in a room and cared for her;

“I insisted on daisy moving into those rooms.” The inspector is very understanding when he talks to Gerald. It is not so much an interrogation or an interview, more of a conversation with Gerald. He asks him gentle questions because Gerald is being open about his involvement with Eva/ Daisy;

“Yes, when did this affair end?” Gerald accepts responsibility for her;

“She didn’t blame me at all. I wish to god she had now.” His attitude changes when he realises that Inspector Goole isn’t a real police inspector. He becomes more inquisitive and starts to probe more;

“But is it a fact?” questioning if it was the same girl for each member of the family. He also states that;

“There’s no real evidence that we [drove the girl to suicide] than there was that that chap was a police inspector.” Proving to the family that it was a prank. To back-up his point further, he explains that each person was shown a picture of a girl. He says to them;

“How do we know it’s the same girl?” This leaves the family pondering the situation and the inspectors identity.

Next to be questioned was Mrs Birling. Unlike Eric, she had no sympathy for Eva when she was asked to help her. Eva went to Mrs Birlings charity to ask for help but was refused because she used the name “Mrs Birling” which Sybil Birling described as;

“Gross impertinence”. Sybil doesn’t accept any responsibility for Evas death because she says;

“I did nothing I’m ashamed of” and; “I consider I did my duty.” This also proves she is very shallow. She then goes on to say;

“First [I blame] the girl herself” and “I blame the young man who was the father” shifting the blame off her and her family onto Eva/ Daisy. But she doesn’t realise she is dropping Eric into it by saying things like;

“He’d be entirely responsible” and “He’d ought to be dealt with very severely”.

The last person to be interviewed by the inspector is Eric. The inspector, as with Gerald and Sheila, is sympathetic and understanding towards Eric. Eric, however, has a different attitude towards answering the Inspectors questions. He knows everything has already been said and that the Inspector already knows about his dealings with Eva/ Daisy;

“You know , don’t you?” Earlier in the play he was trying to blame other members of the family. He was taking the side of the inspector during Mr Birlings Questioning;

Gerald: You couldn’t have done anything else

Eric: He could, He could have kept her on instead of

throwing her out.”

When Birling talks about Eric’s; “Public-school-and-varsity life” Eric insists;

“[They] don’t need to tell the inspector that” and he’s obviously hiding something.

Eric later admits to being responsible for the girl being pregnant and that he was;

“In a state of hell about it” showing he was obviously worried about anyone finding out.

When asked about what he did to help the girl, he confessed to stealing his fathers money to support her. He must have cared for her otherwise he wouldn’t have stolen the money and risked being found out. We know he cared for her also because he says;

“I wasn’t in love with her or anything- but I liked her”

We know he regrets what he has done because when the inspector asks him what happened at her lodgings he says;

“That’s when it happened, and I didn’t even remember- that’s the hellish thing. Oh- my God! How stupid it all is.” He also shows anger when he finds out his mother refused her help;

“You killed her- and the child she’d have had too- your own grandchild- you killed them both- damn you, damn you!” He was angry with his mother for pushing Eva/ Daisy away when she asked for help, because that was the last time Eva was heard of and it could have driven her to take her life.

Out of all the characters, I think that Eric and Sheila were most affected by Eva’s death because when the inspector leaves and Gerald returns with the news that he wasn’t a real inspector, Eric and Sheila are the only two who are focused on what they have done wrong. For example, Birling only thinks about his knighthood being ruined by the scandal;

“You don’t seem to care about anything. But I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list.”

Gerald is more bothered about who the fake inspector is than he is about the girl who killed herself;

“That man wasn’t a police officer… That’s what I came back to tell you.” If the only reason he came back was to tell them the inspector was a fake then he is obviously not thinking about it and therefore hasn’t affected him.

Mrs Birling is too busy complaining about the way the inspector talked to them and his manners than she is about refusing Evas case for help;

“The rude way in which he spoke to Mr Birling and me- it was quite extraordinary!”

Whereas Gerald, Mr Birling and Mrs Birling were occupied thinking about other things, Eric and Sheila were constantly talking about the regret they feel for what they had done.

Sheila often tries to focus the conversation on the girl when other family members talk about their own topics;

“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 happened.”

Eric also tries to centre the conversation onto Eva;

“Oh- for gods sake! What does it matter now whether you got a knighthood or not?” in reaction to his fathers comment about “[being] certain for a knighthood”.

The two of them also state that they feel regret and shame for their actions and they both lecture the family about the evenings events. Eric says to Birling;

“You told us that a man has to make his own way, look after himself and mind his own business… I didn’t notice you told [the Inspector] that it’s every man for himself”

When Birling talks about his reputation being ruined, Sheila snaps back with;

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I don’t care about that. The point is you don’t seem to have learned anything.”

Priestly conveys the message that you should be careful what you do or say to people and be weary of the consequences. He shows this through all the characters and it also tells you that the smallest thing can have a large, serious outcome. For example in the play a complaint in a shop could lead to someone getting fired and then she committed suicide.