Gerald Groft’s treatment to Eva Smith (daisy Renton) is also very poor. When he first meets Eva smith he treats her really well he meets her at a palace bar, a bar for prostitutes. Gerald gives Eva his friends flat to live because his friend had given him the keys to the flat and there was no one living there at the moment, his friend had gone away on a business trip. ”I made her go to Morgan terrace because I was sorry for her”. He gave Eva some money too. After six months Gerald had to go away on business somewhere then he finished with Eva. Gerald is in his early 30’s. He has an affair with Eva but he was also engaged to Sheila. Gerald comes from a rich family. He does not take responsibility for others except for Eva Smith, and that only lasted six months. “I didn’t ask for anything in return”. Society in 1912 was very bad because rich men could treat poor girls how they ever they wanted to.
Mrs Birling also treats Eva Smith as an inferior and refuses to assist her when she comes to her charity for help. She is a member of the Brumley women’s charity “you are a member, a promit member of the Brumley women’s charity”. Mrs Birling is a very selfish woman. She is in her early 50s. She’s stuck up and is also a snob. She has two children Sheila and Eric. Eva Smith went to Mrs Birling for help and Mrs Birling did not help her at all because she didn’t believe a word Eva Smith said. Eva Smith told Mrs Birling that she is also called Mrs Birling “Eva Smith called her self Mrs Birling” She said this because Eva had an affair with Eric but Mrs Birling does not know this. Eva Smith had no family and was pregnant with Eric’s baby. She went to Mrs Birling for help. Mrs Birling does not take responsibility for others. She thinks that Eva has her self to blame. Mrs Birling is a rich women and has a very high opinion of her self. This show us that that the problems in society in 1912 were really bad because some one like Eva Smith if they were poor and had no family people someone like Mrs Birling could treat them however they felt like.
Sheila’s brother, Eric, also contributed to Eva’s downfall and further highlighted the problems many people faced in 1912. Eric Birling is a young foolish man who is 21 years old. He loves drinking but drinks far too much. He’s been to university and had all the education he needed. His father is a mayor; his mother is a prominent member of the Brumley women’s charity. He treats Eva Smith really badly. He meets her in the Palace Bar. They both get drunk. He prowled her with drink because she had nothing to eat. Eva and Eric both go to Eva’s room, when they get there Eric wants to go inside but Eva does not want him two she begs him to go away. He says no he forces himself inside. She can’t shout or scream because the owner of the room would throw her out. So they both go inside. Eric had sex with her and gets her pregnant. Eric does not take responsibility for others. Eric tries to help Eva by stealing his dads money and giving it to Eva, he gives her £50 and he also offers to marry her because she is pregnant with his child but she says no because it would ruin both of their lives. The problems in society in 1912 were really bad because boys like Eric that were educated thought they were allowed to do what ever they wanted to do to girls Like Eva e.g. have sex with them.
The inspector, in many ways, is the voice of Priestley’s true feelings: he represents socialism. Socialism is the political belief that the state should own industries on behalf of the people and that everyone should be equal. The inspector is concerned with what the Birling family has done to Eva. The inspector is not real but Sheila and Eric learn what they have done wrong but Mr and Mrs Birling don’t learn anything from this they carry on has normal. The inspector goes to the Birlings house and pretends that he is a real inspector called inspector Goole.
As well as highlighting the many social problems in 1912, Priestly wished to write a play that would be watched and enjoyed by many people, One way he makes it very interesting, is he uses the murder mystery format to make it even more interesting. In every act he ends the act on a very dramatic high point so that we would want to carry on reading more of it. The action keeps us guessing right until the last moment. We suspect one character, than another so that is why it is good. At the end of the play the inspector Goole just leaves and then after a while the Birling family get a phone call saying an inspector is on there way to their house. They then find out that inspector Goole was not real and they are glad.
Priestley was very successful full in achieving his main aims. A lot of people watched the play and many have read the book “An Inspector Calls”. I have read the book and it was very mysterious. Priestley wrote the play and made it very exciting so that we would want to real it all the way though to the end and we would also learn what the problems were like in society 1912. We learn that the problems in society 1912 were really bad, rich people could treat poor people how ever they wanted to. We also learn that in 1912 people did not take responsibility for each other. Priestley is showing us what it was like in 1912. The play was very mysterious because at the end the Birling family and we find out that inspector Goole was not real. Priestley is trying to say that if people took responsibility for each others things like what happened to Eva would not happen.
