He is showing off to Gerald about how the port is from good quality as Gerald’s father gets the same port and that makes Mr. Birling just like them, he might want to show in this way that he is not less than Gerald’s family as in those days only rich people could afford a good port.
At the engagement of Sheila and Gerald, Mr. Birling is really satisfied. “Is one of the happiest nights of my life.” Mr. Birling says this, to show everyone how much Sheila’s happiness means to him. However he could have also been happy for his own matters, as Gerald is the son of Crofts Limited and working with them will do great for his business. J.B. Priestley might have wanted to emphasize Mr. Birling’s selfish character. Mr. Birling had sacked Eva Smith from his company. “Yes I do, she was one of my employees and then I discharged her.” This shows that Mr. Birling is greedy because, Eva had asked for more money, and therefore he had sacked her from his company. Mr. Birling didn’t accept his moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith. “I can’t accept any responsibility”.
He is straight forward even though he’s to blame he don’t want to be responsible for others rather than his family. The things he says are not to be trusted, because he would probably do anything to keep himself happy. “The Titanic is never going to sink”. The Titanic eventually sank, so this shows that Mr. Birling thinks he knows everything but is not always right. We can presume that J. B. Priestley wanted to show the audience that because of Mr. Birling’s status, a lot of people still believed him and he therefore could have got away with a lot. In my opinion Mr. Birling has to accept his moral responsibility as he was the one who has started the drama by firing Eva Smith from his company.
Sheila was the next one to meet Eva Smith. Sheila is described as an attractive also joyful and excited girl without knowing she was also responsible for the death of Eva she turned against her father’s way of treating people and chose Eva’s side. “But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people”. This shows that she is a caring person and she wants her father to treat the workers as people and not as ‘’cheap labour’’. After that Mr. Birling had fired Eva Smith she came to work in the favourite store of Sheila which was called “Milwards” and again she was being fired but this time she was being fired by Sheila because she thought Eva had laughed at her. “When I was looking at myself in the mirror I caught sight of her smiling at the assistant, and I was furious with her. I’d been in a bad temper anyhow. I went to the manager of Milwards, and I told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near the place again and I’d persuade mother to close our account with them”. Perhaps this could emphasize that Sheila was also a bit paranoid, spoilt, and not happy about the way she looked; as, she got Eva fired just because she looked at her and laughed. All the time she had her dad to blame but when she heard she was to blame she was ashamed of how she had reacted earlier towards Eva just because she was from the upper class and Eva from the lower class and felt sorry. “It was my own fault”. This suggests that Sheila has changed from how she was earlier and accepts her moral responsibility. As Sheila accepts her moral responsibility she’s trying to convince the other members of the family to accept their moral responsibility. ”The girl died a horrible death and we were parts of it”. Priestley might have used the word “part” to emphasize the fact that they were all together in Eva Smith’s death. I believe that Sheila is not the one to blame the most as she had made a mistake which she admitted and felt guilty for what she has done. Perhaps Priestley wants to show trough Sheila, that the way people from the upper class only care about class and them selves is wrong.
Gerald croft met Eva Smith, after his wife Sheila. Gerald was described as a nice good-looking man who is also emotional. When Gerald had met Eva Smith at the first time, she had changed her name into Daisy Renton and was being annoyed by Joe Meggarty. “The girl saw me looking at her and then gave me a glance that was nothing, less than a cry for help. So I went across and told Joe Meggarty some nonsense- that the manager had a message for him or something like that- got him out of the way- and then told the girl that if she didn’t want anymore of that sort thing, she’d better let me take her out of here”. This shows that Gerald is a good person and just wanted to help her. The way he tells the inspector that he went to help her out, could emphasize the fact that he didn’t care who she was, or what her class was, all he cared about was to help her out. But on the other hand there might be another reason why Gerald wanted to help Daisy because in those days no one would help another without having a reason. “She was pretty and warm-hearted”. So perhaps Gerald was fallen in love with her and that’s why he had helped her and left her because he realized that he couldn’t marry someone from the lower class. Daisy loved Gerald and knew that they could never be together, she didn’t blame Gerald, but still he felt horrible, leaving her like that. “No it wasn’t. She told me she’d been happier than she’d ever been before- but that she knew it couldn’t last- hadn’t expected to last. She didn’t blame me at all, I wish to God she had now I’d feel better about it.’’ This suggests that Gerald accepted his moral responsibility because, even though Daisy was Gallant about it and told him he was not to blame, he fell badly because, he had prejudiced her and in a way he blamed himself for her death. Priestley might want to make the audience feel sympathy for Daisy as it was the first time she had ever been happy.
After Gerald, Eric meets Eva Smith. Eric is described as a not quit easy, little bit shy and forceful man. Similar to Sheila he thinks at first that his dad (Mr. Birling) was wrong to fire Eva because she had asked for some money. “Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages?” He stood up for the workers, and told his dad that he was wrong by firing them. Eric had met Eva in the same Palace bar as Gerald and he was drunk. Eva hadn’t eating anything; she was a bit dizzy and weak. Eric wanted to go with Eva to her house but she refused to let him in so he forced her to let him in.
“Yes, insisted- it seems. I’m not very clear about it, afterwards she told me she didn’t want me to go in but that- well I was in the state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I threatened to make a row”. This suggests Eva didn’t like Eric in the first place but he forced himself upon her. Priestley may have wanted to show his audience by this quote, how much Eric was to blame for Eva’s death, as she did not want him to come with her at all. The next day they met again at the same Palace the bar and made love again; Eva became pregnant. Eric didn’t felt any love for Eva but he just wanted to make love with her. “Yes I wasn’t in love with her or anything- but I liked her- she was pretty and a good sport”. Through this quote, Priestley presumably wants to emphasize how awful the attitude of Eric towards Eva was and how he had used her for his own joy just because she was a poor girl.
Eric saw she was poor so he stole money from his dad’s office and gave it to her but when Eva heard it was stolen she rejected to take it from him. “Well, she hadn’t a job- and didn’t feel like trying again for one- and she’d no money left- so I insisted on giving her enough money to keep her going- until she refused to take anymore-“. Eric was using Eva as a prostitute as he paid her money to do things she didn’t wanted and she was okay with it till she heard it was stolen and even though she was poor she didn’t wanted no more stolen money. Perhaps Priestley proves his point here, that lower class people are people too. He shows how rich people do not care, where they get the money from as long as they get richer, however even though Eva didn’t have any money at all, she was a warmhearted, faithful girl that did not want any stolen money. At first Eric blames his parents for Eva’s death. “Well I don’t care now. Well I don’t blame you but I don’t forget I’m ashamed of you as well- yes both of you”. This shows that Eric finds it very difficult to accept moral responsibility, and therefore blames everything on his parents. At the end he starts accepting his moral responsibility as he feels guiltier. “According to you, I ought to feel a lot better- I stole money, Gerald you might as well know- I don’t care, let him know. The moneys not the important thing, it’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her matters, and still feel the same about it, and that’s why I don’t feel like sitting down and having a nice cozy talk”. At the end they find out that the inspector wasn’t real but Eric still feels responsible for his deeds
The last character who gets to know Eva is Mrs. Sybil Birling who is Mr. Birling’s wife.
Mrs. Sybil Birling is described as a serious woman and her husband’s social superior. She only thinks of herself and treats Eva different as she’s from the lower class. “Girls of that class”. This quote could show that Mrs. Sybil Birling sees Eva as a poor girl, who is because of this less important than her. She probably has this idea about Eva, that she would do anything for money, as she might not believe ‘’girls of that class’’ have any self respect or what so ever. Mrs. Sybil Birling was the last person to see Eva Smith. Eva came to her because she was pregnant and strongly needed money. She had called herself “Mrs. Birling” as clearly Eric Birling was the father of the child. Priestley portrays the social issues of that time, as Eva probably had thought that as she was the carrier of Eric’s child, she then also became his wife. “I think it was simply a piece of gross impertinence- quit deliberate- and naturally that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case.” Mrs. Sybil Birling didn’t believe her as she had called herself “Mrs. Birling” and that sounded rude and impossible to her, as she would never accept Eva as her daughter in law. So Mrs. Sybil Birling told her straightforward that she didn’t want to help her. “I’ll tell you what I told her. Go and look for the father of the child, it’s his responsibility”. She didn’t know that Eric was the father, and had she known she would have not believed it, as Eva is from the lower class, she would have not accepted it. Mrs. Sybil Birling didn’t accept her moral responsibility for the death of Eva, “Oh stop it both of you and please remember before you start accusing me of anything again that it wasn’t me who had her turned out of her employment- which probably began it all”. She passes the blame back to Mr. Birling as he could have prevented this from happening, by not firing her.
In my opinion I believe that Mrs. Sybil has to accept at least a little responsibility even though she hadn’t started it because she could’ve prevented all this if she had given Eva a little bit of money to live with her child.
Sheila and Eric both learned form their mistakes, they became more mature and ‘real grown ups as they have accepted their moral responsibility compared to Mr. and Mrs. Birling who hadn’t accepted the responsibility that was put on them. When realized that the inspector was fake, they wanted to forget about everything what had happened and live their happy lives. At first Gerald had accepted his moral responsibility and felt really guilty but, when he had find out the inspector was fake he was no more than the Mr. and Mrs. Birling and hadn’t learnt his lesson. Just then they get a real phone call from an inspector, perhaps Priestley wants to show his audience, that even when they think they can get away with it, the truth and responsibility that was once put on them will follow them, until they accept it.
