Examine the theme of responsibility throughout an inspector calls

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Examine the theme of responsibility throughout an ‘inspector call’

An Inspector Calls is a play that examines how rich Edwardians were seen to be irresponsible. It does this by showing us different views and actions of a family called the Birlings. When a girl called Eva Smith dies and everybody has a part in the killing.  The characters are used to show how we can all be irresponsible Eva smith was a girl who was a victim. She was a victim because she killed herself because of the desperate situations she found herself in. Every body did something very bad to Eva and this forced her to drink disinfectant. I am going to analyze how Priestly presents rich Edwardian families and how they treated people who had no power.

From the beginning of the play Arthur Birling is presented as a selfish, arrogant person this is because Mr. Birling is expecting Gerald Croft to combine businesses. This character also shows that he only cares about himself when he says that: “you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and that all that nonsense. But take my word for it, you youngsters – and I’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience – that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” The sentence above tells that Arthur Birling is a very ambitious and competitive man, it also suggests helping others may slow your process to achieve your aims, which is not what he expects from a good society.

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The reader becomes more aware of how ignorant these Edwardians were when Birling says “unsinkable”. Initially Sheila appears to be a jealous, self centred person. Her decision to blackmail the manager saying she will persuade her mother to close her account, if the girl is not sacked demonstrated how self obsessed she is. This can be seen through the lines “she was a very pretty girl too” this shows to us that rich Edwardians took advantage of their power. It also shows to us that rich Edwardians took advantage of their power. It also shows how irresponsible they were ...

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