Who, in your opinion, is most responsible for the death of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton? Compare and contrast the characters and actions of the five central characters, using evidence from the text to justify your opinion.

All five of the characters play a part in the death of Eva Smith. First of all, Mr birling, who throws her out of her job after a strike. Secondly, Sheila gets her fired from her second job unfairly. Then Gerald, who befriended and made Eva his mistress only then to break up with her,. And then Mrs Birling who refuses to let her charity give aid to Eva. And finally Eric, who makes Eva pregnant and tries to give her aid by stealing from his father’s company, though Eva refused this after she finds out its stolen money.

Mr Birling throws her out of her job after she asks for higher pay “and this girl Eva Smith was one of them. She had a lot to say, far too much, she had to go”(Act one pg. 15 Mr Birling) this shows she’s willing to stand up for herself and also shows Mr Birling’s ruthless nature, or perhaps she’s already hard done by and needs the money. Compared to the other characters, Mr Birling is very selfish and only thinks about himself, his company and family. Mr Birling sees his workers as cheap labour and cares more about productivity than the welfare of his workers.

Sheila complained at a shop about Eva and she was fired. It was a job Eva really needed and was lucky to even have. “I went to the manager at Milwards and told him that if they didn’t get rid of the girl I’d never go near the place again” (Act one pg. 23 Sheila). Compared to the other characters however, Sheila seems the most repentant about what she’d done. “And if I could help her now I would-“(Act one pg. 24). This shows she’s sorry for what she did and didn’t mean any harm to the girl.

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The next character to be involved was Gerald. He had an affair with Eva and gave her accommodation and money out of pity. He is a relatively innocent character compared to Mr and Mrs Birling as he never intended ill to the poor girl. However he did leave her heartbroken and broke. “And then you decided to keep her as your mistress?” (Act two pg. 53 The Inspector). This shows that even though Gerald was intending good to begin with he did take advantage of her after she had fallen for him.

Eric was the next character involved; he took advantage of Eva and slept with her. When Eva became pregnant he stole money from his father’s business to give to her and when she found out about it, she refused to take any more. “She told me she was going to have a baby…I was in a hell of a state about it” (Act three pg. 53 Eric). This obviously shows Eric cared about the well being of Eva and as he offered her money it shows he wanted to help. Compared to the other characters his attitude afterward was much like Sheila’s and felt he had learnt a lesson from the whole thing.

Mrs Birling was the last character to have an impact on the life of Eva Smith. She persuaded her charity to refuse aid to Eva, even though she had a child to look after and no job or husband. “You admit being prejudice against Eva’s case?” (Act two pg. 43 The Inspector). Compared with the other characters Mrs Birling was much like Mr Birling in retaining her argument that she did nothing wrong and she accepts no blame for what happened. Her decision was the final blow that pushed Eva towards suicide as she felt she could find no more help.

Out of the characters, Gerald and Eric actively tried to help Eva (even though it was Eric who put her in the situation he helped her with). This shows that the both cared about Eva to an extent and I think therefore the least responsible characters. Sheila was unfair to Eva and got her fired on purpose, this makes her quite responsible, however she was upset and sorry for what she had done and has obviously learnt a valuable lesson from the whole experience.

I think that the majority of the responsibility lies with Mr and Mrs Birling, as they weren’t sorry for what they had done. Also, Mr Birling had started the whole thing and Mrs Birling made the final blow, if either of them had been nicer then the whole thing wouldn’t have started or may have ended there. Another point is that they both intended harm and were selfish in what they did, they didn’t think of the welfare of Eva at all.

In conclusion I think it was mainly Mr and Mrs Birling to blame, Gerald being the least, Eric after that and Sheila afterwards. In my opinion the blame should lie most with those who mean harm and aren’t remorseful for what they do afterwards.

Elliot Sporle

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