Once confronted by the inspector Mr Birling shows no pity for Eva.
“Still, I can’t accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward”
Although Mr Birling is partly responsible he refuses to take any blame.
After being sacked from Birling’s Eva was out of work for two months but then she got a job as a sales assistant in a clothes shop. It was here where Sheila’s involvement took place. She had been a valued customer at Milwards and used this to her advantage to get Eva dismissed. Sheila had complained about Eva for laughing at her when she tried on a dress. What had perhaps annoyed her even more was that Eva looked better in the dress than she did. Eva was very pretty and Sheila was jealous of her and because of this she "couldn’t be sorry for her".
Unlike her father Sheila felt extremely guilty for having Eva dismissed. As she says "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a whole lot worse". Eva’s second dismissal left her in a worse state than her first dismissal and she became despondent. Sheila has been the cause of this further degeneration but we feel less inclined to blame her because of her remorse. Whereas Mr Birling sacked Eva quite cold bloodedly and never gave her a second thought, Sheila’s action was the result of a fit of temper and she regretted it immediately.
"It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anybody."
Sheila felt sympathy and cared for Eva and took responsibility for her actions.
“It frightens me the way you talk”, “So nothings really happened. So there’s nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn.”
Sheila is truly sorry for her actions and takes responsibility for them.
On reflection, perhaps Sheila does deserve more blame than her father. Although Sheila shows more remorse than Mr Birling, her reasons for getting Eva sacked are less valid. Mr Birling saw Eva as a ring leader of trouble makers who could disrupt his production. Sheila however got rid of her for a far less important reason caused by her own temper and jealousy.
Gerald Croft becomes involved with the girl at this stage but she has now changed her name to Daisy Renton in an attempt to start a new life. She is desperate and considers prostitution. However she had no choice because she had no parents and there was no welfare state in those days for her to turn to, so it was probably a choice between starvation and prostitution.
Gerald first met Daisy in a bar at the theatre. He saw Alderman Meggarty harassing her and went to her rescue. He took her for a drink and a meal because he pitied her and he learnt she was desperate and so let her use his friend’s rooms. She then became his mistress and they were together for the whole summer of 1911. He finished with her and cast her aside because of his relationship with Sheila Birling.
Although he was fond of Daisy and cared for her, he knew there was never going to be any future in the relationship because of the class differences and Sheila. Gerald was the son of Lord and Lady Croft and would be expected to marry someone of similar social standing. This was more important in the early 1900s. Even Mr Birling feels socially inferior and boasts about a possible knighthood to increase his own importance.
Being rejected by Gerald was probably more hurtful to Daisy than the dismissals inflicted on her by Mr Birling and Sheila because there were strong emotions involved. Daisy was in love with Gerald and being thrown out by him left her not only homeless but heartbroken. Also she had been cared for by Gerald and enjoyed quite a luxurious lifestyle. She therefore had more to lose than previously. The drain on her emotions would have left her with less fighting spirit so her future looked even bleaker.
During this rejection Eva behaves with dignity, and puts Gerald’s feelings first. She doesn’t create any scenes, plead with him or even cry she just goes quietly to make it easier for him.
Gerald is least to blame as he cares for Daisy but on the other hand gives her a taste of a lifestyle she loves but cannot have. “She was young and pretty and warm hearted”. Conversely he leaves her in a worse state than either Mr Birling or Sheila had. Gerald’s comment that young women should be "protected against unpleasant and disturbing things" is rather hypocritical in the light of what he’s done to Daisy. He feels lower class women do not need this protection, which would be a typical attitude of rich young men of that time. They would have no conscience about 'using’ girls like Daisy.
At First Gerald denies even knowing Eva.
“Where did you get the idea I know her?”
Gerald is concerned because he doesn’t want this to be revealed as he might lose Sheila.
“(distressed) Sorry – I – well, I’ve suddenly realizes – taken it in properly – that’s she’s dead.”
Gerald shows sympathy for Eva and is distressed once he finally takes it in that Eva is dead.
Within a few weeks Eva is back in the Palace Bar which is where she meets Eric. She is thinking again of becoming a prostitute to earn a living. He is drunk and insists on going home with her and threatens to make a row unless she lets him in. He sleeps with her on this occasion and another two or three times. She then discovers she’s pregnant but refuses to marry Eric because she knew he didn’t love her.
Although the relationship between the two has been a casual affair, Eric has become quite fond of Daisy and wants to take some responsibility. Despite being from a wealthy family, he has very little money of his own and is forced to steal to provide for her. Once again Eric acts irresponsibly and steals money from his fathers business. When Daisy finds out where the money has come from she refuses to accept any more and ends contact with him.
Although both Gerald and Eric have had sexual relationships with Daisy, Gerald had genuine feelings for her and looked after her, for a time whereas Eric,
"Just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person."
Eric also got Eva pregnant and Daisy now had a baby to think about as well as herself and there was no welfare state to help. Also while she was pregnant, she couldn’t work as a prostitute or get any other job. This would mean she’d be homeless and starving. Society’s attitude to unmarried mothers was also very different from today. It was intolerant and Daisy would be looked down on.
Once the inspector goes and the family realise the inspector is not real Eric still feels bad and feels guilty.
“Whoever that chap was the fact remains I did what I did”, “You’re beginning to pretend now that nothings really happened at all. And I can’t see it like that. This girl’s still dead, isn’t she?”
Eric has grown morally and has learnt as a member of society not to act as an individual. Eric is sorry for what he has done; nevertheless that doesn’t excuse his behaviour. Although not entirely to blame for her suicide, he must take much of the responsibility because he used her. He tried to help her financially but she refused to accept any more stolen money.
As a last resort, Eva turns to the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation for help. There she is refused help by Mrs. Birling because she didn’t like her attitude. She thinks Eva is lying about her circumstances and also Eva had started out on the wrong foot by trying to hide her real identity by calling herself 'Mrs. Birling’.
Mrs Birling comes over as an arrogant and domineering woman with little compassion. She not only refused help herself but made sure that the other members of the committee refused help too. As the inspector tells her "You turned her away when she most needed help".
Although she is the chairwoman of a charity that is supposed to help people, her attitude is hypocritical because she doesn’t help people who genuinely need it. She tells Eva to "go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility". She thinks Eva’s case isn’t a deserving one and that people should sort out their own self-inflicted problems instead of putting the responsibility on others. She is smugly complacent and believes she has done nothing wrong. As she tells the inspector, "I accept no blame for it at all". She has a clear conscience and is convinced of the justice of her position, "I did nothing that I’m ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation" she declares. Even though she is a strong character as we have seen and stands up to the inspector she is so narrow minded that she is led into condemning her son for Eva’s death. She also takes the blame away from herself by blaming Eva herself and even Mr Birling for starting it all. She never takes responsibility for her own actions and at no point blames herself.
As the inspector tells her,
"You refused her even the pitiable little bit of organised
charity you had in your power to grant her".
It is Mrs Birling’s uncaring attitude that makes her actions seem even worse. She adamantly refuses to accept any blame and although she is shocked by Eric’s involvement she never shows any genuine remorse. In fact she believes she behaved correctly and "did my duty" in turning away an undeserving claim. She is typical of the sort of women involved in philanthropic societies at the time, women who were concerned with human welfare and reduction of suffering. Priestley criticises them for sitting on committee’s merely to ease their own consciences rather than out of a genuine desire to help.
Mrs Birling should take a lot of the blame for Eva’s death. If the charity had helped and given her advice and shown friendliness and sympathy she wouldn’t have felt as hopeless for the future as she did, and might not have committed suicide. She killed herself because she saw no future for her and her child after being refused help by the charity.
Of all the characters Mr Birling is the least responsible because he had to get rid of her for the good of his business. He saw her as a trouble maker and it was Mr Birling’s job to keep everything running smoothly. His actions were probably justifiable at that time when the welfare of the workers was not considered.
Sheila shouldn’t bear as much blame as the others either. She acted in an absurd way due to her jealousy and instantly regretted it. Her behaviour was typical of a girl from a wealthy upper-middle class family. She always expected to get her own way and to be shown respect by her social inferiors. Today it would be unheard of for a worker to be sacked for grinning. In those days labour was plentiful and cheap and there were no employment laws to protect workers, so it was easy to dismiss someone instantly.
Mrs Birling and Eric are the most to blame because Mrs Birling knew Eva was genuinely in need but still turned her away in a callous fashion. Eric had a sexual relationship with Eva and made her pregnant. He put her in an unbearable position and is very much to blame for her downfall. The only two things in his favour were that he was sorry for what he had done and he tried to help her financially but these came too late for Eva.
Priestly wanted to ensure life after the war was better than before and he hoped that through his writing he could influence people’s ideas and change society. Although he wrote an Inspector Calls in 1945 he deliberately set it in 1912 because that time represented the sort of society everybody wanted to leave behind. He was particularly concerned about the living conditions of the lower classes, represented by Eva, and the way the upper classes behaved, represented by the Birling’s and Gerald Croft. He believed that we should all help each other which is the total opposite from what the Birling’s believed. He uses the inspector to symbolise the conscience of the nation and through him challenges each of the characters who represent a part of society. He shows that change is more likely to come through the young (Sheila and Eric) rather than through the older generation (Mr and Mrs Birling) or the upper classes symbolised by Gerald Croft. This shows Priestly believes there is still hope for coming generations.
