Compare and contrast the ways in which Sheila and Mr. Birling react to the Inspector and explore how they respond to the idea that they are responsible for the death of Eva Smith.

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Compare and contrast the ways in which Sheila and Mr. Birling react to the Inspector and explore how they respond to the idea that they are responsible for the death of Eva Smith.

Before the inspector arrives in the play, the four members of the Birling family along with Gerald Croft are peacefully sitting at the dining room table eating their dinner together, celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald. The mood is shown through the light family exchange. Mr. Birling, at the same time, is showing his naïve view of the world’s current events – “Germans don’t want war.” “Nobody wants war, except some half civilised folks in the Balkans.” As the book is set in 1912, we the audience know that two years later there will be a war, a world war. This is what makes us think that Mr. Birling has an inappropriate view of the world. Priestly presents Birling from the beginning as one who is detached from ‘real’ world events and someone whose perception is faulty. All the characters are sitting in their best clothes and the food is excellent. Arthur Birling has got some special port to drink and toast with, even the bickering between brother and sister, Sheila and Eric is friendly. Priestly is showing us this so we can see how smug and secure the family are and how this changes throughout the play from the questions the Inspector asks. The two families, the Birlings and the Crofts seem well-matched as they’re in the same line of business. Mr. Birling is particularly pleased by this family connection as this will make the profit of his business rise also. Sheila adores her new engagement ring “I’ll never let it out of my sight.” This is ironic as later in the play, when Gerald reveals he had been seeing Eva Smith, Sheila takes off the ring and puts off the engagement. After a good evening meal with loved ones, the stresses of daily life seem unimportant. At this point everyone is content and behaving, saying the right things. The future looks rosy.

When the Inspector arrives, Mr. Birling’s initial reaction is that he’s calling about his duties as a J.P. However when Mr. Birling realises that he’s not here about that we can see aspects of his character from the responses he gives. “(rather impatiently) Yes, yes. Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you should come here, Inspector” – This tells us that he does care for the situation, but he doesn’t want anything to do with it. Also he’s in a dismissive mood as he doesn’t want any police around his property because he hopes for a knighthood. When the Inspector asks Birling about his work and previous employees he gets a bit rattled. This is when he works out that the Inspector has called because of something regarding his work. When Birling seems moved he reacts by saying -

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“(rather angrily) Unless you brighten your ideas, you’ll never be in the position to let anybody say or to tell anybody to go. It’s about time you learnt a few responsibilities.”

When he first talks about Eva Smith he compliments her, saying things like: “She was a lively good-looking girl” and “A good worker.” Then he says that “they suddenly decided to ask for more money – I refused of course.” Birling is showing that he was alright with Eva Smith until she asked for more money, that’s when his view of her hardened. The way that the Inspector goes ...

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