The play is a mystifying and exhilarating mix of many themes, including greed, vanity and rejection, as well as love, sex and secrecy. I feel that the play conveys a deep message without being melodramatic. ‘An Inspector Calls’ tells of the bourgeoisie Birling family celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to an aristocratic man, Gerald Croft. The catalyst to the play, Inspector Goole, arrives and completely alters the situation, by forcing all the characters to examine their own consciences, which leads to a dramatic ending. The play is structured
This makes him similar in many respects to Eva Smith. She fell totally in love with him, however she did not expect the affair to last.
Eric Birling is a character that one begins to feel sorry for as the play progresses. ’
Her character uses a lot of mental imagery too, warning her mother not to try and, ‘build up a kind of wall’ because the inspector would knock it down again.
Eric calls Sheila, ‘a little sneak,’ when she discloses to their mother that Eric is an alcoholic. He also gets very annoyed at certain questions the inspector puts to him on the topic of his business, exclaiming, ‘I don’t see that its any concern of yours. She therefore decided in a callous manner, to deny the girl the charitable services the organisation stood for. He is also eager to obtain a knighthood, a goal, well within his reach, as he said to Gerald, ‘so long as we behave ourselves.
Arthur Birling has a strong belief in his strong philosophy, that, ‘a man has to
mind his own business and look after himself. This suggests that he raped her, treating her as Gerald Croft did. He has a maid named Edna, which indicates his wealth. She shows remorse over the sacking of Eva Smith she caused through her jealousy, saying, ‘I expect you’ve done things you’re ashamed of too.
Initially, when Mr Birling hears of the suicide, he attempts to brush it aside,
saying, ‘Obviously it has nothing to do with the wretched girls suicide,’ when explaining why he dismissed her. ’ He plans ahead, assuming that everything will fall into place perfectly, however what happens by the end of the play quite contrasts with this
This shows that Sheila was obviously jealous that a working class person looked better than her. He convinces the Birling’s and Gerald that they have played a major part on the death of Eva although they started off convinced that they had nothing to do with her.
