The inspector then moves on to Sheila. Sheila is the daughter to Mr. Birling and fiancé to Gerald Croft. At this point Mr. Birling is surprised to find out that the inspector is not only here to see him. The inspector then goes on to tell the rest of Eva’s story. After she was sacked from Birlings factory she lived on the streets as she had no other job and her parents were dead. She eventually got a job at a clothes shop called Milwards after two months of living on the streets. She loved this job as it was what she loved, clothes. One day Sheila was in the shop when Eva was working there. Sheila was trying on a dress and it just didn’t look right on her. She said she just wasn’t the right person for the type of dress. Then Eva came in and she held the dress up to herself and it looked great. Eva was a very pretty girl. Then when Sheila held it up to herself again she caught a glimpse of Eva laughing and she was furious. She made a formal complaint and said to the manager that if Eva wasn’t sacked then she would get her family to take their account elsewhere.
As far as responsibility goes I would say Sheila took responsibility for her actions far better than her father did. She did a bad thing, and she knows that now. She then admits to the inspector that she feels and felt really bad about what she had done.
“but I felt rotten about it at the time and I feel a lot worse now.”
She is the one character that stands out and says she feels bad about what she had done. The other characters try to deny the fact that they did anything wrong and that they are not to blame.
In this section Sheila admits what she has done not only to everyone else but also to herself. She has finally come to terms with what she had done. It is not really a question to the inspector because she is not sure. It is more of a rhetorical question.
“So I’m really to blame?”
She also accepts responsibility for what she has done in a way that is far more courageous than all of the others in the play. She is not pleased but she knows she has to face up to what she had done and her part in the death of Eva.
I would say that Sheila is more to blame than her father in Eva’s death as she loved this job and she had just come in off the streets and she was straight into a well-paid job. Also this was through not fault of her own. Sheila said that she was particularly in a bad mood that day and I think she was just venting her frustration at some one. That person just happened to be Eva. Sheila varies from the other characters. She is the only character to feel guilty about what she had done. None of the other characters feel the guilt as strong as she does. This I believe was a greater knock back to her than being sacked from Birlings factory.
The next character the inspector comes to is Eric. Eric met Eva in a bar, which apparently is where “women of the town” drink. Eric was in there having a beer when he met Eva. He took her home and they made love. They were both very drunk and Eric couldn’t even remember her name the next day. When they slept together Eva ended up pregnant. Eric realized what he had done and stole money from his father, Mr. Birling who found out when Eric confessed to the inspector. He stole the money to give to Eva but she declined his offer. He then left her pregnant with his baby to fend for herself, no support or anything. This would have been a major knock back for her and I think it was the biggest knock back she suffered.
I don’t think Eric takes responsibility for his action at the start as he goes off and blames his mother for killing her and then he blames his father for being a person he feels he cannot talk to.
“because your not the type of father a chap could go to when he is in trouble.”
“you killed her!”
I think that this is just shock at the fact she is dead and so is his baby. I think that he is the first person I have come across out of the people I have studied that has actually been connected with Eva other than on a speaking or employment level.
He then at the end of the play begins to accept responsibility for what he has done and shows a whole new mature side to him that shows great reasoning. I think that this new side comes out because he has had time to adjust to what he and the rest of the characters have done.
“the fact remains that I did what I did.”
This shows great maturity and he is trying to get the rest of the family to accept responsibility for what part they played no matter how small a part it was. I think that Eric feels bit of guilt, more so than his father but I would say not as much as his sister. Unlike his father he knows he was in the wrong.
As far as blame goes I would say Eric is the most to blame. Even though he tried to fix it with what he thought was the right thing by giving her money he still left her with a baby. A young woman with no job and no money stuck with an unwanted baby. What else was she supposed to have done? She was on her own. Eric put Eva in that situation and I feel he is most to blame. He is however showing a great deal of maturity about it and he did try and fix it, which in some respects redeems him.
The next character the inspector comes to is Gerald Croft. He is the son of a local business rival of the Birling co-operation. Gerald is due to marry Birling daughter Sheila who we have already looked at. He once had an affair with Eva Smith that came out at the interrogation. He met her in the same bar that Eric met her and they got talking. At the end of the night he realized that Eva had no home to go to. He was looking after a house for a friend who was on holiday and he let her stay there. They had an affair for several months but when his friend came back he knew she had to go. She was very upset but she knew it wouldn’t work. This was a major knock back for her and she was very hurt.
When it comes to responsibility Gerald is hard to analyse. It takes him a while to make up his mind weather he actually loved her or not. This shows that his feelings for her were very strong and it was not just a bit of fun. I think that he feels very responsible for her now even though at the time it wasn’t really his fault.
“She didn’t blame me at all. I wish to god she had now. Perhaps I’d feel better about it.”
Gerald obviously cared a great deal about her and I think he was upset when they broke up. He felt really bad about what he had put her through. I think that he forgot what he gave her in the first place.
I think that Gerald is very guilty and regrets letting them breaking up. He is even guiltier now than he was at the time. He was however very guilty at the time, that is something none of the other characters were, apart from Sheila. He was the only person who treated her as a person and not just a piece of dirt.
In this statement Gerald is recalling the time that he really got to know Eva. He thought a great deal of her and I think this initial idea of her is what sparked off the affair they had together.
“She was young, pretty and warm-hearted, and intensely grateful.”
As I said in the last couple of paragraphs Gerald is the only person who treats Eva with some respect and actually loves her for who she is. Everybody else treats her as a piece of dirt and I think this is due to their upper class view. They are very prejudice to people like Eva because she is from a working class background.
I wouldn’t say that Gerald was to blame for Eva’s death. I think that he may have almost had the opposite affect to everyone else. He took her into his home and loved her and thought a great deal of her. They had an affair for several months and the only knock back she suffered throughout the whole relationship was the break up at the end. This would have come as a hard blow to her but I think she would also be able to cherish the good times she had had with Gerald. He is to blame in some way but not as much as all of the others as he helped her even though he knocked her back in the end.
The final character the inspector comes to is Mrs Birling, wife to Mr Birling. Her contact with Eva smith was that she was working at a charity that gave money out to women who were in desperate need of it. Eva came to her asking for money because she was carrying Eric’s baby and had no job and thus had no money to support herself. She went to the charity claiming to be Mrs Birling. She thought that if she was carrying Eric’s baby and she used the Birling name she would have a better chance of getting money. Unfortunately she went to Mrs Birling and Mrs Birling thought that she was mocking her and refused to give her money.
As far as responsibility goes I would say that Mrs Birling does not accept responsibility for any of her actions and like her husband will not admit that she was in the wrong. She believes that she was within her right to refuse Eva the money.
This next piece of evidence supports the idea of Mrs Birling accepting no responsibility for her actions. She thought that she was totally right in her decision even now with the knowledge she has.
“I’m very sorry, but I think she only has herself to blame.”
“…………… I did nothing I am ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation.”
I think that this is a good piece of evidence to support the idea of no responsibility being taken. I think that Mr and Mrs Birling share the same prejudice ideas and almost self-belief that they are never in the wrong.
I think that the last piece of evidence also supports the idea that Mrs Birling has no guilt about Eva’s death and her part in it. Why should she be guilty if she apparently has done nothing wrong? Therefore it is safe to say that Mrs Birling has not guilt over her part in Eva’s death.
As far as blame goes it would say Mrs Birling played a major part in the suicide of Eva Smith. She knocked her back when she had no money, was pregnant, had no boyfriend or husband to help, and her life was nothing. She knocked Eva back through not fault of her own. This was to be the last knock back Eva could take and it was after this that Eva committed suicide.
I think that all of the characters in the play are to blame for Eva’s death in some way or another. With most of them the incident was uncalled for and was just them being either frustrated or prejudice towards Eva because of her working class background. There was only one person who I feel really cared for her and that was Gerald. He took her in and gave her money to buy clothes and food and they loved each other for several months. He did however knock her back in the end. Eric treated her like a piece of meat. He made love to her and then tried to pay her off when he realized she was pregnant.
The inspector deals with the idea of collective blame at the end when everyone has said their bit. He makes it clear that it was not just down to on person and that they were all to blame.
“But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that, never forget it.”
This I feel is the whole moral to the play along with a few others that we can all play a part in something no matter how small it is it can still have an effect.
As far as the characters who have learnt from the experience I would say that it was only Sheila and Eric who realize at the end when the policeman is revealed as a fraud who do not think that it gets them off the hook for what they have done. They look back on things at the end of the play and say we still did bad things that we shouldn’t have done. The other characters are not bothered. They are off the hook.
