Mr. and Mrs. Birling indirectly contributed to the end of Eva Smith’s life as they could be held responsible for Eric and Sheila’s actions. Eric and Sheila’s attitude in life, and therefore their actions regarding Eva Smith, is a result of the parenting of Mr. and Mrs. Birling who have raised them like themselves, selfish and not in touch with reality.
Mrs. Birling is partly responsible for Eva Smith’s death because she shows no sympathy to her at her committee meeting. She states, “I blame the young man who was the father of the child.” She obviously has no idea of the pressure on Eva as a pregnant unmarried woman. In other words, Mrs. Birling is partly to blame for her inability to put herself in the position of another woman.
She also shares the blame for Eva Smith’s death because she is unable to empathise with the lower classes. She could have saved Eva by granting her some help but did not like the way she was granting herself, “ridiculous airs,” which, “Girls of that sort,” shouldn’t be doing.
Gerald plays a young man in Priestley’s play. In this role he ends up partly to blame for the death of Eva Smith.
Gerald is very polite and caring. We see this through his first actions involving Eva Smith – or Daisy Renton as he knew her. He rescues her from, “Old Joe Meggarty,” who, “Had wedged her into a corner with that fat carcass of his,” and, “Made her go to Morgan Terrace,” making, “her take some money.”
From thereon in the play though, his actions were not as noble as his previous ones and may have been partly to blame for the death of Eva Smith. After allowing her to stay at Morgan Terrace he realises that he was becoming, “The most important person in her life,” but rather than preventing her admiration for him, he allowed her to fall for him. He carried on misleading her, enjoying it, “For a time,” as, “Nearly any man would’ve done.”
Apart from his involvement with Daisy Renton, we see that he is like Mr. and Mrs. Birling in that he wants to escape all responsibility and hand it to other people. Just when Gerald seems to have learnt from his actions; to have developed a ‘Social conscience,’ his attitude completely changes and he says the discovery of Inspector Goole, “Makes a difference of course.”
Sheila and Eric, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Birling also have a vital part to play in the death of Eva Smith. Sheila uses her social status to take out her anger with her mother on Eva Smith. She threatens to, “Persuade mother to close our account with them.” This shows how thoughtless she is regarding the lower classes. Sheila is shown to be very immature as using her jealousy of Eva being, “A very pretty girl,” as motivation for getting her own back.
The audience may feel some sympathy towards Sheila though as she regrets what she did unlike her parents. She explains that, “I’ll never, never do it again to anybody.” She has been sheltered from reality by her parents. The Inspector sees this and comments that, “Your daughter isn’t living on the moon.” You can infer from this that he believes that the over-protectiveness from Mr. and Mrs. Birling is having a bad effect on both generations. Priestley is perhaps echoing personal beliefs that the younger generation in real life can learn from their parents’ mistakes through the Inspector.
Eric, the last in line for questioning from the inspector, also gains sympathy from the audience through his honesty and truthful account of events. Unfortunately he is not totally innocent and may be seen as blameworthy for the death of Daisy Renton. He looks to her to finish off his evening by going, “With her to her lodgings that night,” and after, “She told [Eric] she didn’t want [him] to go in,” he, “Threatened to make a row.” He admits that he, “Wasn’t in love with her or anything,” and we can assume that he used her as a tool or, “An animal, a thing, not person,” as the inspector describes.
Eric’s act of stealing money from his father could be interpreted in two ways. Although he was being noble and, “Giving her enough money to keep her going,” he was breaking the law by stealing and this immaturity could go to show that he is more to blame for the death of Eva Smith. Although he was the final member of the Birling family to play a part in her life and probably the one that pushed her over the edge, he is repentant and takes responsibility for his actions. When the Inspector is found out as a fake, he does not brush aside what he did, but realises that, “The fact remains that I did what I did.”
Overall, Mr. and Mrs. Birling seem more responsible for the death of Eva Smith as although they should be the most mature, they refuse to accept that they are to blame. Also, they are the parents of Eric and Sheila so indirectly responsible for their actions. We see that Eric and Sheila are good at heart as they realise their wrongdoings after their first mistakes that are due to their parents’ over protectiveness. Although there is a slight difference in the amount of responsibility each of them takes, they are all in the end partly responsible.
