Mr Birling (page57) “ You! You don’t seem to care about anything, but I care, I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list.” This shows Mr Birling does not care about Eva Smith, he just cares himself getting a knighthood. All these people were partly to blame but it is up to you to choose who was the most to blame.
The writer shows us that the Inspector makes his presence felt straight away. He is meant to be quite strange and unusual. His name is the first thing that makes him peculiar “GOOLE.” The writer keeps us in suspense by making his name sound like the ones of a ghost. As soon as he enters he gets the Birlings admitting their bad behaviour towards Eva Smith.
Inspector, “ We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” The Inspector is talking about how everybody should be responsible for each other.
As the play develops we find out that the Inspector is a hoax. This changes all their views towards Eva Smith apart from Sheila and Eric’s. Mr Birling is very happy because he will now be able to get his knighthood.
Gerald is the one that discovers the Inspector is a hoax. He is very happy with himself and explains how Eva Smith probably never actually existed. The photos he showed people were probably completely different people. The Inspector also said that Eva Smith changed her name. The names he came out with were all different which meant there was more than likely one candidate. They came to the decision that Eva Smith never existed, but Sheila and Eric point out that they still did those horrible things to people, and they should all feel ashamed of themselves. This did not change the other’s opinions. To Mr Birling this changed everything, his selfish character realised he could still get his all-important knighthood. As the story progresses they find out that no one committed suicide in the factory, but minutes later the police station ring him telling him that a woman called Eva Smith just killed her self drinking disinfectant. The family can not believe it, was the Inspector a ghost? Or was he extremely clever? The writer ends the story very well here because it is up to you to choose what you believe. The writer is trying to show us that responsibility is an extremely important task that should not be taken lightly, everybody has a responsibility in life but each person’s responsibility is different. The writer also shows us some key points about the play’s message. The first thing the writer shows us is the consequences of responsibility. Some people accept responsibility like Eric and Sheila but the others did not care. Mr Birling (page14) “ Still, I can not 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.” This quote shows that Mr Birling does not accept any responsibility when it is clear that he has been extremely responsible. The writer does this to show that Mr Birling does not care about anybody apart from himself and to show that Mr Birling is very selfish. The writer makes Eva’s death very formidable to show the importance of responsibility. The writer also makes the Inspector very peculiar. He makes the Inspector get all the answers from the Birlings very easily and doing this he emotionally destroys the Birlings one by one. The writer also shows us that everybody should treat one another equally, even – though the Birlings were a much higher class than Eva Smith was. The other thing the writer shows us is that everybody should help each other in dire needs. Unfortunately Eva was not so lucky.
The writer gets the play’s message across with two main people, Eva Smith and the Inspector. Early on in the story, the writer tries to make us feel sorry for Eva Smith. He does this by telling us that she thought her life was so terrible that the only thing she could do was drinking disinfectant. Another thing that makes us feel sorry for her is that we find out that she was about to give birth. This makes the readers upset knowing that another life was killed. The writer does this very well by making us feel sorry for her, then hitting us while we are down with the extraordinary terrifying Inspector. No one could take responsibility for Eva apart from Sheila and Eric. The other points were made by the Inspector in his final speech. In this story we see that the writer is trying to teach us that we have to be responsible for are actions. The writer does this by having remorseful characters and characters that are not remorseful. The writer shows that actions have there consequences, he does this by all that has happened. The writer teaches equality and to treat others as you wish to be treated. The writer shows you can not change the past but you can change the future. It is the reader’s choice to decide who was responsible, but I think they were all partly to blame!
