When Sheila is shown the photograph of the young lady she is deeply affected and leads on to tell the inspector that she was the reason that Eva was fired from her job at Milwards, she had forced the manager to sack her because she had caught her smirking at her. Sheila feels terribly guilty about what she has done and even feels responsible for Eva’s death.
When the inspector states that Eva then changed her name to Daisy Renton, Gerald’s reactions give away that he too knew this young lady. He had met her at bar known to be the gathering place of prostitutes. When he found out that Daisy had no money to her name, he let her stay in the flat of a friend and how she became his mistress. He ended the affair when he had to go away on business, giving her some money to see her through for a few months.
Sheila is glad to have found this out, but Mrs. Birling is appalled. Gerald leaves claiming that he must go and think about Daisy’s death.
Mrs. Birling is then shown a picture of the girl, from which she admits to having seen the girl a few weeks ago. Daisy had come to her charity pregnant to ask for financial assistance. Mrs. Birling persuaded the committee to turn Daisy. Mrs. Birling is proud of refusing the girl aid. She claims that she did her duty and sees no reason at all why she should take any blame for the girl's death.
It is at the end of the when Mrs. Birling denounces the father of the child and claims he needs to be made an example of, Sheila realize that Eric is involved. When Eric enters the ends.
The inspector deals with the family in chronological order but leaves Eric until last because he believes that Eric’s deed to be the worst. He is the reason that Daisy is pregnant and could be the main factor leading to her suicide. The inspector knows that Eric is the man who made Eva pregnant, and so leaves him until after Mrs. Birling has told them her story: in which she turns Daisy down because she claimed that the father of her child was a Birling. This also helps the family to lay more blame of Eric, as if making him the scapegoat. This causes a huge rift in the family, breaking them up into two different points of views.
To start with Eric tells us how He had met her in the same theatre bar as Gerald, had got drunk and had accompanied her back to her lodgings. He almost turned violent when she didn't let him in, so she relented and they made love. When he met her two weeks later they slept together again and soon afterwards she discovered that she was pregnant. She did not want to marry Eric because she knew he didn't love her, but she did accept gifts of money from him until she realized it was stolen. Eric admits that he had taken about £50 from Mr. Birling's office.
Eric uses many euphemisms in his part in the tragedy to try and shift the blame and get a little bit of sympathy from his family: who, all but Sheila, seem to be against him.
“…well, I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty-and I threatened to make a row.” Here, what he is actually saying is that he was drunk and that he forced Eva to let him in.
When Eva thought that the money that Eric was giving her was stolen she refused to accept it even though she was badly in need of it, this shows the high morals she held. Mrs. Birling on the other hand did not have any morals when turning Eva away from her charity “unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation. The girl asked for assistance. We were asked to look carefully into the claims made upon us. I wasn’t satisfied with the girls claim-she seemed to me to be not a good case- and so I used my influence to have it refused.” This speech shows that she was clearly against the girl. We know from the start of the questioning of Mrs. Birling that she was prejudiced against Daisy. Also, when Mrs. Birling tells us that she did not think that she was a good case we can clearly see that she was exactly the case that her charity should be helping.
It is ironic that the ‘upper class’ of the Birling family have lower morals than the ‘lower class’ who they were meant to be so much better than.
Mr. Birling reacts by accusing Eric of destroying his good name, he repeats the news about his name being on the honours list and that Eric’s affair could ruin his chances: “you! You don’t seem to care about anything. But I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list-“ Mr. Birling is much more concerned about his position and what other people will think of him than the fact that his actions, along with the rest of the family, may have caused a young lady to take her own life. He is also much more harsh towards Eric, his own son, than he is towards Gerald. Mr. Birling is not the best of parents by a long way, he treats them like small children when they are adults, and he barley knows a thing about them: for example, he did not know that Eric had a drinking problem.
The Birling family become two sides: on one side is Mr. and Mrs. Birling and Gerald who believe that they had done nothing wrong and that they could not be held responsible for the girl’s death; on the other side there is Eric and Sheila who believe that it is entirely their fault that Eva killed herself. The Inspector lets them all fight over the reasons for Eva’s death to make them think about all that has happened and what they have all done. When he intervenes he drives the point home that it was them all collectively at different times that helped Eva on her way to an early grave. The Inspector explains in a masterful yet understandable way the entirety of their individual involvements: “but each of you helped to kill her”…”remember what you did Mrs. Birling. You turned her away when she most needed help” and to Mr. Birling ”you started it. She wanted twenty-five shillings a week instead of twenty-two and sixpence. You made her pay a heavy price for that” It is as if he has put the whole family in court and is explaining why he has chosen the sentence.
The Inspector’s conclusion is a general one; it shows no favours or particular harshness to any one member of the family, and indicates that they are all equally to blame for the suicide of Eva Smith. This shocks the family initially and then drives them even further apart into two separate groups.
The exit of the Inspector is very much like to his entrance, very quick and sudden. He arrives and leaves without warning. This creates a circular motion. In the play, which reveals that most of the characters have failed to make progress despite the Inspectors visit.
Mr and Mrs. Birling both blame Eric for the scandal because he had an affair with her, but Eric and Sheila tell their parents that they are ashamed of them. “ Well, I don’t blame you. But don’t forget I’m ashamed of you as well-yes both of you.” The parents are accused of not admitting their faults and not knowing their children well enough.
The family had more-or-less forgotten about Gerald until he re-enters the Birling household. Mr. Birling is relieved to see Gerald again and immediately agrees with his theory.”(excitedly) by jingo! A fake!” This shows that Birling cares for Gerald ore than his own son-Eric, he would rather see Sheila marry into the croft family and merge business with Mr. Croft. This just goes to show how much of a bad father Birling is.
The different characters react differently to Gerald’s theories about the Inspector being a fake and there not really being a death. Mr and Mrs. Birling obviously agree with Gerald because they are much more concerned about the family name and how people think of them. “but I’d a special reason for not wanting a public scandal just now.” Eric and Sheila on the other hand accept that Gerald may be correct but it still does not change the fact that they much all change the way they live their lives.
The two telephone calls add to the drama of the play. The first call is dramatic because we can only hear one side of the conversation and the answer on the other end is one that could decide the fate of the whole family. We are made to wait by Priestley, this builds up suspension for the audience. When it is confirmed that the Inspector was a fake it puts the family at ease.
The second call shocks the audience and the family, all of whom are wondering what the conversation could be about. When we are told that another Inspector is on his way to ask about a girl who died in exactly the same way as Eva had it makes the audience and family ask themselves some questions: will it be the same outcome as last time? Will it be the same girl as last time?
The entire structure of the play is circular; the Inspector arriving and leaving in the same fashion and the new Inspector coming over to ask questions about a girls suicide. With this twist it makes the audience think about if they want to sympathise with the Birling family or to be glad that they may not get away with murder. In my personal view I am glad that they are not getting away with it. It also brings about the question “will the inspectors questioning proceed and end in the same way as previously?” JB Priestley’s message is that there should be no ‘classes’ and that we should treat each other with the same amount of respect. This message is still relevant because the same things are still happening, we still treat others differently, maybe we look down on some people, and our actions may start a chain of events which will end up in a tragedy for someone.
