In what ways does Priestley explore responsibility in An Inspector Calls?

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fahim talukder 11ts

In what ways does Priestley explore responsibility in An Inspector Calls?

"We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other"
This is the sentence taken from the Inspector’s last speech and I think that it sums up exactly what Priestley was trying to get across about responsibility. Priestley may have experienced difficulties during wartime; this may have led him to believe that in order to live in a peaceful world man must consider his responsibility to fellow men.. In this play it points out the need for a sense of personal responsibility in every member of society; responsibility not only for individual actions, but also for the way actions affect others. Priestley is very effective in using the Inspector to voice the view of responsibility most strongly. Priestley has created these characters so that they act as the communal conscience of the other characters.

The character's past is also used to show another key theme-responsibility. Each person on stage has a secret to reveal- each linking and connecting every person to the death of Eva Smith. This presents Priestley's belief in socialism which really comes across in the play- every person has a responsibility to help each other and that your actions can affect others.

In Act 1, a mysterious Inspector influxes mysteriously, Inspector Goole is his name and he arrives unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. Priestley’s use of the Inspector startles revelations not only shatter the very foundations of their lives but challenge us all to examine our consciences. His use of the Inspector opens the door to explore responsibility in this play as he one by one challenges them to reveal their guilt. I think that the idea of the play and particularly the role of the Inspector are to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. Therefore it could be said that Eva Smith was simply a victim of her class and time. This point is very significant and is the basis of the entire play, to grasp it is imperative to the understanding of the play, without this, an analysis of responsibility would be far more difficult.    

                                                     

‘A very good time - and soon it'll be an even better time’, the ironic words of Mr Birling. He utters these words minutes before inspector Goole shatters the tranquil, pleasant mood. This play is based on responsibility, and how many lack this important quality. When questioned Mr Birling says that he thinks there is something in what the Inspector says, but contradicts this by going on to say that he ‘can’t accept any responsibility’ for the fate of the girl. Presley’s main argument when exploring responsibility in the pay is that people must accept responsibility for others, whether they like it or not. As Birling points out, this would make life ‘very awkward’ for some. Priestley demonstrates the idea of responsibility in the eyes of other characters extremely well, for example the use of Mr Birling’s character. Mr Birling is a caricature of the callous heartlessness of a capitalistic businessman. Mr Birling expresses his philosophy that ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and own’. Here we are able to see that Mr Birling is fond of personal responsibility. As he has mentioned he wants to take responsibility for only himself and nothing else and only cares about himself. Priestley use of this character is very effective.

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Mr Birling seems to be astonished by the death of Eva Smith, but still has in mind foolishly why the Inspector has come here. “Yes yes. Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you should come here” Here Mr Birling shows how uninterested he is when the Inspector mentions it. Mr. Birling doesn’t even stop for a second to see if he could help in anyway concerning Eva’s death. This serves to suggest and confirms that when Mr Birling says that a man has to look after himself and take no responsibility for others. ‘Well, it’s my duty to ...

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