Sheila is one of the most involved characters in the death of Eva/Daisy. Sheila is also one of the most sympathetic characters at the end of the play. She is the one that got Eva fired from Milwards because of her jealousy which led to her money shortage. Sheila said she was in a bad mood already so, anything would upset her, she complained to the manager that Eva was laughing at the way she couldn’t make the dress look good on her. ‘I caught a sight of her smiling at the assistant and I was furious with her. I’d been in a bad temper anyhow.’ However, after she found out Eva was dead she reacted very differently from the way she reacted when she found out Eva was laughing at her. In fact, she regretted getting her fired ‘If I could help her now I would.’ At the end of the play Sheila still feels sympathetic and guilty. ‘I still can’t forget.’ She is also ashamed of the way her parents forgot about what they’ve done ‘I want to get out of this, it frightens me the way you talk.’ Overall, though, I think Sheila does take responsibility.
Gerald, also, may have played one of the biggest parts in Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton’s death. The main reason for that, however, is the simple fact that he broke her heart by having an affair with her, allowing her to fall in love with him and leaving her. He was also the only character that had a close relationship with her which is why when he found out she had died he was shocked and upset. The main reasons she fell in love with Gerald is because he is a sympathetic and honest character and treated her the way a woman should be treated. Gerald, however is the one that found out that the Inspector was a fake and he was very happy and relieved and tried to lie to himself by pretending everything was back to normal, the affair did not happen and he could put everything behind him and be engaged to Sheila again ‘Everything is all right now, Sheila (holds up the ring) What about this ring?’
Mrs. Birling plays a part in Eva’s death too the biggest part, in my opinion. She was Eva’s last resort because she had no where else to go and when she went to Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation for help Mrs. Birling turned her away and refused to help her in her pregnant and desperate state. She says she turned Eva away and felt no remorse because Eva lied and said her name was Mrs. Birling. ‘She’d impertinently made use of our name’ which is her reason for refusing her claim and another reason she said was ‘I didn’t like her manner.’ Mrs. Birling didn’t feel any guilt at all either ‘If you think you can bring any pressure to bear upon me, Inspector, you’re quite mistaken.’ Only when she found out Eric, her son, was the father of the dead woman’s baby did she show a little emotion. She showed some anger and disappointment ‘Oh-Eric-how could you?’ That quickly changes, though, because at the end of the play when she finds the Inspector is a fake she pretends everything is back to normal and nothing happened because when Sheila asks ‘So nothing really happened. So there’s nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn. We can all go on behaving as we did.’ and Mrs. Birling replies ‘Well why shouldn’t we?’ Mrs. Birling is celebrating that the Inspector is a fake and continuing as though nothing has happened, which means going back to her old self.
Eric, to me, may be responsible in a way because he forced himself onto Eva and got her pregnant which was putting her in a worse situation as this meant she was pregnant, homeless, bankrupt and desperate for help. However, you can tell Eric took responsibility because of his actions at the end of the play. ‘You lot may be letting yourselves out nicely, but I can’t’ he is ashamed of his parents because he agrees with Sheila that it frightens him how they talk ‘And I agree with Sheila. It frightens me too.’ You can also tell Eric is angry at Mrs. Birling because of the way he screams at her at breaking point and says ‘Then-you killed her. She came to you o protect me-and you turned her away-yes, and you killed her-and the child she’d have had too-my child-your own grandchild-you killed them both-damn you, damn you-‘It also seems that only the two younger Birlings take responsibility for Eva’s death, Eric and Sheila because everyone pretended like nothing happened and things could go back to normal and they did not. Priestley might be trying to pass through the message that there is hope for the younger generation.
At the end justice is, in a way, done because the Inspector explains how each of them is to blame. Then he carries on by explaining there are plenty of other people on earth like Eva Smith and we need to start taking responsibility by treating each other equally and if we don’t then there will consequences like what happened to Eva Smith. He’s also saying we should take the chance while we have it. ‘There are millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us… We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other … if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.’ The Inspector is say what Priestley thinks and is trying to get the message across and hoping the audience will learn something from the play and start working together as one community, and not listen to Mr. Birling’s views which are the complete opposite of the Inspector’s.
What Priestley is trying to say throughout this whole play is social responsibility is something that should be practiced but is not. The message Priestley is trying to get across throughout the whole play is the people on earth should stop classing each other and start working together as one because the way we treat each other is not nice, which I think he got across well although social responsibility and behaviour has not improved that much in the world.
By: KALLAI JOHNSON-HIBBERT
10.5