Mrs. Birling should have some understanding of Eva Smith because she is a governor of a charitable organisation to help women in desperate situations. But her ignorance gets in the way of her work, she doesn’t even think there is a possibility of there being more than one Birling family, so she dismisses Eva Smith straight away. “Yes I think it was simply a piece of gross impertenance – quite deliberate – and natrally that was one of the things that pedjudiced me against her.” Mrs. Birling’s ignorance is also apparent when she is saying what should happen to the young man who impregnated Eva Smith.
Sheila had to learn, not to use status as an extended tool for jealousy. After Sheila has been told about her involvement in Eva Smith’s death she seems genuinly sorry for what she has done “And I know I’m to blame – and I’m desperately sorry” As well as what Sheila says, the stage directions like “distressed” are used to show how she is feeling. Her youth also opens her to the exposure of Inspector Goole “We are most impressionable on the young” this also makes us realise how Inspector Goole “breaks down the barriers”.
When you are “far gone”, or as you would more commonly say it now, drunk, you are quite likely to get yourself into some sort of trouble as Eric learns. Unlike his parents and Sheila, Eric realises that what he did was wrong at the time and tried to make amends for it by giving Eva Smith money. “I insisted on giving her enough money to keep her going”
At first when Eva Smith left him he didn’t change his ways, you can see this when he “helps himself to the decanter”. After the Inspector has gone through the events it looks like Eric has finally come to grips with what he has done and will make some sort of effort to change now, because of the imppression left on him by the Inspector.
The message Inspector Goole is trying to present is that, whatever you do, you will eventually be judged for it. “We are members of one body. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish.” Inspector Goole also delivers the message that everyone must look after everyone else, and almost exactly contradicts Mr. Birling’s teaching of “every man has to look out for himself” or else the world will turn into a cold, miserable place, full of hatred and selfishness.
Sheila strips down her clothes to her underwear to the realisation that she is not worthy of them “It’s simply my fault that in the end she – commited suicide.” Sheila belives that because she helped put Eva Smith into a position where she can’t enjoy anything, Shiela wants to refrain herself from the nice things in life from now on. Mrs. Birling however keeps on all of her clothes and jewellry to represent her ingnorance and arrogance to the situation, even now she has been made aware that she helped towards Eva Smith’s demise she still thinks that she was right in using her authority because of her pride to turn Eva Smith away. When talking of what she had done Mrs. Birling tends to use words such as “naturally” and “simply” as if there was absolutly no wrong in what she had done at all. “simply a piece of gross impertinance” “naturally that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case.”
The structure of the play is set out as a ‘whodunnit’ with one line of enquiery at a time. “One line of enquiery at a time. Otherwise we’ll all be talking at once and won’t know were we are.” This is done so that there is no confusion with the messages being conveyed. This whodunnit structure has been tapered with, as usually at the end you know who did it, and why, but at the end of this play there is no specific culprit, and nobody murdered anybody because Eva Smith commited suicide.
Priestly wanted you to have full understanding of the characters, so to help convey what each character was learning there are no intervals, just as in real life you would not be able to break and forget about what’s happening for half an hour then go back to life, Priestly wants to show this is in real time as it’s happening, just like life.
have. And from this play it would seem that if I had any of these diseases, that trouble would surely come my way.
