The inspector questions Birling first and asks him, if he knows Eva Smith. Birling then goes on to explain how he knows her, how she led a protest which was for a pay rise and then how he fired her. This play is set in 1912 when many protests were going on during that time. These protests were about poor pay and conditions that they had to work in and priestly uses this in the play when Eva Smith led a protest. Also during this time was the rise of the labour party who supported working class views. It would have also been hard for Eva as women did not have the vote during this time and had little power. The inspector is able to make Birling reveal everything by starting off a sentence so that Birling carries on. The inspector can accuse Birling of something and in Birling’s defense he reveals everything. He tries to defend himself because he says that he kept all the woman on the strike apart from a few. He says “I kept all except four or five ringleaders who’d started the trouble, I went down myself and told them to clear out and this girl Eva was one of them”. Birling is saying she was one of the ring leaders on the protest and that she was causing trouble. Then Birling tries to make a good impression of him by saying “I was an alderman for years and lord mayor for two years and I’m still on the bench”. Birling is trying to make himself look important and use his influence. When the inspector finishes questioning Birling it is clear that he wont accept any responsibility and this shown when he says “I can’t except any responsibility” and later on he say “Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on some people, they’d soon be asking for the earth”. This shows that Birling feels what he did was right although Eva Smith had only asked for a small pay rise. Although he sacked her from a job which she desperately needed he saw no wrong in what he did.
Sheila reacts differently to the questioning. She finds the death of Eva Smith terrible unlike Birling who thinks it’s got nothing to do with him. In the stage directions for the play we discover that Sheila is happy, rich and exited about life. It says “Sheila is a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”. Throughout the inspector’s questioning this changes. She tells the inspector how she played a part in Eva’s death, by getting her sacked. When the inspector questions her he should speak forcefully and accusingly because Sheila is made to feel guilty and responsible quite easily. You the audience should be able to tell she is really worried and guilty by the physical transformation. Her appearance should start to look messier for example her hair could become bedraggled, and her clothes could become ripped.
Sheila clearly feels guilty and responsible; this can be shown with her sitting with her head in her hands. The way she feels is shown when she says “this is terrible and we all drove her to her death”. By the end of the play Sheila is a changed and more caring woman because she accepts responsibility. This is shown when she says “The worst part is, but you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget, everything we said has still happened” and she also says tensely “I want to get out of this”.
When the news of Gerald having an affair with Eva is revealed Sheila is changed by this as well. In the stage directions for the play Gerald is described as a good person. It said “Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well- bred young man-about-town”. This shows that he is a well brought up young man who is popular and it is saying he is a man of the town. As the truth is revealed it shows that Gerald is not the easy well-bred young man about town that he is made out to be. He says that his first intention was not to make love to her but this is hard to believe. Gerald knows that this relationship can go no where due to Eva being a working class. Gerald seems to enjoy looking after Eva because he has a sort of power over her as she is a working class, where as with Sheila is the same as him. Gerald at first tries to make a good impression on Sheila’s family but his affair has a major effect. Gerald seems to feel that he is not responsible for the death of Eva Smith and that if he was then he wouldn’t accept any responsibility. He could show this onstage by not looking interested and not looking at the inspector. He feels this because the inspector isn’t real. They get a phone call saying that a girl had died and that an inspector was coming round to see them. This confuses and worries them. So he feels that what happened doesn’t matter because the inspector Goole was fake. This is shown when he says”everything’s all right now Sheila.” In the 1940s inspector and mystery stories were very popular.
The next person to be interrogated by questions is Mrs Birling. Although Birling and Gerald did not want to accept any responsibility Mrs Birling remains the most unchanged and stubborn out of all of them. She feels that everything she did was right and that she has done no wrong. She says” I have done my duty”. At the beginning of the play she is described as ‘a rather cold woman’. She dismisses Eva and any responsibility by saying “I did nothing I’m ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation.” Mrs Birling starts to be prejudiced by saying “Girls of that class.” The tension starts to build up when she says “I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have.” Mrs Birling does not realise the dramatic irony of this statement because the father of the child is her own son Eric. When she finds out she says “I don’t believe it, I won’t believe it” this shows that she cant believe what is happening.
The inspector starts to question Eric and he reveals how he played his part in the death of Eva. When it is revealed to Eric that Eva Smith is dead he feels sad and starts to blame himself. This could be shown on stage with Eric starting to look upset and he could be muttering to himself. He seems sadder because he was drunk and he can stumble in to show he is drunk. When he finds out that his mother refused Eva Smith from her committee although she was pregnant he blames Mrs Birling by saying “you killed her.” Eric’s anger is shown in the stage directions when it says “crossing to mrs Birling; almost threatening”. Eric feels portrayed by his mother because she has put the mother of his child and his child on the streets with no help. The actor playing Eric should be showing his anger and hate towards his mother. Eric and Sheila are alike in that they both feel guilty and that they accept responsibility for what they have done.
When the inspector is revealed to be a fake I think this doesn’t change anything because the family have still done what they did and nothing can change that. The inspector plays a big part in the play as he is able to make the family reveal what they did. He does this by starting off a sentence which the family would continue with and he accuses them of what they did so in their defence reveal everything. The inspector engages the audience by building up tension. His ideas of social responsibility show Priestley’s (the play writer) own views, as he is a socialist.
At the end of the play the inspector says”each of you killed Eva”. I think this true but I think Mrs Birling is the person who is to blame the most. Eva was probably in the most desperate time of her life as she was pregnant and was really poor. Mrs Birling turned her away and made sure no one else would take her in. Eric and Sheila feel bad about what they have done and accept their role in Eva’s death where as no one else does. Before the inspector leaves he makes a speech he says “One Eva Smith might be dead but there are millions more”. He goes on to say that they should not destroy anyone else’s life like they have done to Eva. I think this shows that the inspector is there to point out that what they have done was wrong and has killed someone. He tries to say that everyone is the same whether they are rich or poor. He also tries to point out that the Birlings are not better than any one else and shows them there ways of error. I have discussed the role of guilt and blame in inspector calls and how vital the inspector is in revealing everything.
