Through the use of oral indicators, Priestley manages to create a seemingly guilty or nervous tone without any oral emphasis on the part of the actors. When Gerald is speaking for example, he seems to pause – almost on the verge of stuttering and he asks for a drink. This clearly shows how nervous he feels and how uncomfortable he is with the situation. Eric also does this, but Priestley seems to criticize him by mentioning with the ease that he pours himself a drink and even the way that he handles the bottle. It seems that Priestley is demeaning Eric, and by giving him the social status of a lazy drunkard, he is obviously not hoping for the audience to have a high opinion of Eric either.
Both Gerald and Eric have intimate relations with Eva Smith, but once again it is mentioned how Eric ‘really can’t remember’ how Eva got pregnant, hinting perhaps that he did not care for her much at all. Gerald on the other hand, whilst being blamed for what he did through the Inspector, is also almost upheld in regards to how he initially treated Eva, and made her happy for a period of time. However, because of this, Gerald could be said to be more responsible for her death indirectly as he made her happy only to drop her completely and push her away. Eric is more directly linked to her death, as making Eva pregnant would have been one of the final steps down the trail.
Eric certainly shows more remorse after the death and clearly states his feelings of sorrow and guilt. Whilst Gerald comments on how ‘I’m rather more – upset – about this business than I probably appear to be’, we can gather later on in the text that this is unlikely to be the case. As soon as Gerald finds out that the Inspector was not an official police officer, he, Birling and Mrs. Birling all alter their stances completely. This shows that Gerald did not care so much about Eva’s death as he originally stated he was. Rather, he cared more about the impact it would have on him.
Overall, it is likely that both Gerald and Eric are almost equally responsible for Eva Smith’s death. Gerald makes sure she is happy and contented, but seemingly ‘keeps her’ like a prostitute. Eric gets drunk and ends up getting Eva pregnant, but shows honest grief when he finds out she is dead due, in part, to him. Both Eric and Gerald have their strengths and faults in regards to Eva’s death, but ultimately who is more responsible for it comes down to the opinion of the audience. Priestley seems to favor Gerald over Eric, indicating that Eric is the worse character through the descriptions given of him throughout the text and raising the status of Gerald through his general ‘honesty’ along with the almost uplifting statements that the Inspector makes about him.
