At this point the inspector stops asking Arthur Birling questions and turns to Sheila Birling.
Sheila remembers Eva Smith as a shop assistant, at a shop called Millwards, about whom she made a complaint demanding that she should be sacked, as Sheila caught Eva smiling at another employee while she was trying on a dress. She says “Millwards! We go there - in fact, I was there this afternoon.” She also says, “I went the manager at millwards and I told him that if they don’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near that place again and I’d persuade mother to close our account with them.” These quotes tell us she shops there frequently and the manager had no choice but to sack Eva Smith as the manager might lose a good customer. She blackmailed the manager of getting her sacked. She also mentions that she was in a bad temper anyway. Sheila sees Eva as a beautiful, pretty girl. She admits that she was jealous Eva Smith, because the would of suited her more than Sheila. I know this because, when the inspector says, “In fact, in a kind of way, you might be said to have been jealous of her.” Sheila replies, “Yes, I suppose so.” She does play a part in Eva Smith’s death because this job was her last chance and after she got sacked she was left unemployed. She does repent because she says, “I know. I had turned her down out of a job. I started it.” Then she starts crying. She is upset through most of the play. I think that she did start all this which led to the death of Eva Smith.
The inspector then explains to them that Eva Smith changes her name to Daisy Renton.
Gerald Croft, son of Sir George Croft, who is a successful business rival with Arthur Birling’s business, gives a startled response when he recognises the name. He gets up immediately and gets a drink, pretending he does not know the person who has just been named. Sheila tries to get something out of him and finally he admits that he spent the previous summer with her. He meets Eva, now called Daisy, in the stalls bar at the Palace Variety Theatre, in Brumley. He saw Daisy and took her to the country hotel and had a drink. He brought he food and got to know her more. She did not tell him much about her past. They met up again after two das and he found out she was penniless and was about to get thrown out of her room she had rented out. Gerald’s friend, who was on holiday, had left the keys to a set of rooms he had. Gerald let Eva stay a room and gave her some money. He insisted to the inspector that he did not put her there to make love. He says, “I want you to understand I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her.” At this point he confesses to Sheila, his fiancée, and admits he had an affair with her. He sees her as a pretty girl. He says, “She was a young, pretty and warm-hearted girl – and intensely grateful.” At the end Sheila gives him back his engagement ring back and Gerald leaves the house. Gerald does not play a part in Eva Smiths death because she does not mind leaving Gerald and going to live her life. She tells Gerald that ‘she’d been happier than she’d ever been before.’ He also offered her some money, but she did not accept it, but Gerald insisted of giving her a gift. He does not repent.
The inspector then shows the photograph to Mrs Birling. She does not recognise the person in the photograph. The inspector forces her to admit that she knows her.
Mrs Birling runs the Brumley women’s charity organisation, which women in distress can appeal for help in various forms. Eva approached Mrs Birling’s charity organisation for advice and help, only two weeks earlier. Eva, who was now pregnant, by someone who the inspector does not classify, had appealed for help, not as Daisy Renton, but as Mrs Birling. The name had startled Mrs Birling, so she turned Eva away penniless. Mrs Birling holds the girl to blame for her own actions and calls the father of the girls child a ‘drunken young idler’, after learning that he had stolen money to support her. Mrs Birling admits being prejudiced about her case. She says, “Yes, I think it was a simply a piece of gross impertinence – quite deliberate – and naturally that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case.” She does play a part in Eva Smith’s death because she turned Eva away when she most needed it. Eva was homeless, had no money and pregnant. Mrs Birling does not repent. She does not want to take the blame for Eva’s death. She blames it all on Eva and the father of the child. She tells the inspector that the father of the child should be punished. Sheila then starts to try and make her mother be quiet. Sheila knows who the father of the child is. But Mrs Birling tells Sheila to shut up and Sheila starts to cry. Mrs Birling says goodbye to the inspector, but the inspector stays in his spot and says that he needs to do his duties.
They then figure out that the only person that has not been questioned is Eric. So it emerges that Eric is the father of the child. They here the door slam shut and Eric walks in.
Eric Birling, son of Arthur Birling, walks in and says “You know, don’t you.” Now they know that Eric is the father of Eva’s child and he stole money from his father’s office to support her. First he comes in and gets himself a drink. He father tells him not to drink, but the inspector says to let him because he is grown up now. He drinks it in a professional way which tells me that he is a heavy drinker. He admits that he met her last November in the stalls bar at the Palace Variety Theatre. He brought Eva drinks and went with her to her lodgings that night. When they first got there she did not want him to go in, but then she allowed him to go in. That night the made love. Eric met up with her again after a fortnight. He did not remember her name or where she lived because he was drunk the night they hade made love. He saw her again at the Palace Bar. They drunk again, but less than last time they met. He went with her to her home again. They talked to each other and Eric told her what he did. Once again they made love. When they met again Eva informed Eric that she was pregnant. She had no job and didn’t feel like trying again for another one. She had no money, so Eric gave her money. After a while she refused to take any more money from Eric because she had found out that is was stolen. Eric says that she had refused to marry him and did not want to see him again. When he learns that his mother had turned Eva away from the charity organisation, he becomes furious. He blames the death on his mother. He does not play a part in Eva’s death as he still offered her money, but she did not accept it. He does not repent.
The inspector then sums up, saying they are all partly to blame, and walks out leaving the family. Gerald walks in informing everyone that the so-called police inspector was not really a police inspector. Mr Birling checks by calling the police station. He was an impostor. Everyone starts to laugh and make jokes about it. Then Mr Birling receives a phone call, telling him that someone has just died, and a police inspector was coming to have him questioned.
I am now going to sum up each character and come up to a conclusion.
Mr Birling sacked Eva Smith when she went on strike for more pay. But Eva managed to get herself a new job, by chance, at a good place. Sheila Birling made a complaint demanding that Eva should be sacked because she was jealous of her, leaving Eva unemployed. Gerald Croft had an affair with her, and then dumped her leaving her penniless. Eric Birling got her pregnant and she left him when she found out that he had been stealing money. Mrs Birling turned her away, when Eva needed help the most. She was left with no money or home. This all led to Eva making the decision of committing suicide.
The character I blame for the death of Eva Smith is Mrs Birling. I blame her because, if Mrs Birling had helped her, she could of got herself a place to live and some money. The rest of the characters did do something but not too serious, that will make her commit suicide. I also blame Sheila because, she had a chance of living a good life, but was sacked because of Sheila, and was left unemployed and penniless.