Who is most responsible for the death of Eva Smith?
Who is most responsible for the death of Eva Smith?
There are many different factors involved in the death of Eva Smith. Each one pushed Eva Smith a little closer to suicide but not one person was alone responsible for her death it's a moral issue. Whether one person deserves to take more of the blame than another does it is difficult to say. It was not only people that contributed to Eva Smith's death but her position in the world and the way in which her life worked out. Priestly really tries to hit homes the importance for care of your neighbour. Priestly was a socialist in his time, unlike most of the people around that time who were only interested in monopolising and individual gain. Priestly is trying to the point of collective responsibility.
Mr Birling was the first person who we were led to believe started off the train of events that ultimately led to the death of Eva Smith. I don't believe that Mr Birling did anything wrong towards Eva after all the only thing he did was sack her from his factory after she started to cause trouble demanding higher wages. Any man in his position would have done the same. She was making trouble as Mr Birling said, 'She had a lot to say - far too much so she had to go'.
Mr Birling always seems to want his own way and when he does not get it he resorts to threatening behaviour which clearly would make him unpopular with the audience. When Mr Birling felt that the Inspector was asking too many questions Mr Birling says about the chief constable, 'Perhaps I ought to warn you that he is an old friend of mine'. At a part dramatic irony is being caused when he says things that we now know to be completely untrue such as describing the Titanic as 'completely unsinkable' and saying 'the Germans don't want war'. We see none of Mr Birling´s good traits instead we see him as a dishonest, cold know it all of a man. I think that Mr Birling´s character is portrayed in this way because then it doesn't matter that his part in Eva´s death was so small and understandable we dislike him just as much or perhaps even more than the other characters.
Sheila was the second person that the Inspector turned on and her part to Eva´s death shows her in an unfavourable light as she turned on Eva because she was jealous of her. Sheila wrongfully used her position as an important customer to turn Eva out of a job. She even admits, 'it was my own fault', and that she 'was in a furious temper'. She was jealous of Eva describing her as a 'very pretty girl too - with big dark eyes'.
Although her actions show her to be a bad tempered and jealous person you ...
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Sheila was the second person that the Inspector turned on and her part to Eva´s death shows her in an unfavourable light as she turned on Eva because she was jealous of her. Sheila wrongfully used her position as an important customer to turn Eva out of a job. She even admits, 'it was my own fault', and that she 'was in a furious temper'. She was jealous of Eva describing her as a 'very pretty girl too - with big dark eyes'.
Although her actions show her to be a bad tempered and jealous person you get the impression as she begins to talk. She shows herself to be honest admitting straight away all that she had done that she caught sight of her smiling at the assistant and 'I was furious with her'.
Sheila does show sympathy for Eva, which is more than her father. It is obvious that she does regret all that she had done with regard to Eva claiming that, 'If I could help her now I would'. Sheila comes across as very guiltful as she says 'I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse'. The inspector replied to her by telling her that the firing of her job did make a difference to Evas' life 'the last steady job she had'.
Gerald was the third person to come under the spotlight. He must feel differently towards Eva than either Mr Birling or Sheila did, as he knew her personally, not as Eva Smith but as Daisy Denton; who in short was his mistress, for a while until it was no longer convenient for him. It could be argued that Gerald came as almost a "saviour" to Eva and I think that is how he sees himself as when he first saw her he said that she 'gave me a glance that was nothing more than a cry for help'. I believe that he did genuinely care for Eva but he didn't love her as he admitted that: 'I didn't feel about her as she felt about me'.
Gerald was fairly honest admitting his part in Eva´s life fairly readily. He had good manners and said the right thing but it is hard to decide whether he does mean what he says or that he is simply trying to come across as well as he possibly can.
Gerald seems to be a rather narrow minded old-fashioned person. He would never marry Eva because she was of the wrong class. In a way you could say that he simply used Eva for his own needs. Although he denies this saying, 'I want you to understand that I didn't install her there to make love to her! ´ However he did make her happy for a few months and you have to give credit for that. He does show signs of guilt, 'She didn't blame me at all I wish to god she had now. Maybe I would have felt better about it.' Although Gerald did not love Eva he did have feeling towards her as he stresses to the Inspector, 'I'm rather more upset by this business than I probably appear to be'. I don't believe that it is possible to know whether Eva meeting Gerald was a good thing. As we will never know whether the happiness Gerald gave Eva was worth the pain and misery, she must have felt when he left her and whether that was responsible for pushing her to the edge. Gerald does feel guilty about hearing this but not for long.
The next person that the Inspector interrogates is Mrs Birling. Before Mrs Birling the Inspector had been talking to each person in order of when they has met Eva. However Mrs Birling was in fact the last person to have seen Eva and was the one that had given Eva the final shove by refusing her any help from the society that she helped run. The reason for this was because Eva used the name Birling which prejudice Mrs Birling against her.
Mrs Birling was adamant that she did, 'Nothing I am ashamed of'. It was clear that Mrs Birling disliked Eva and even admitted that, 'I didn't like her manner'. Mrs Birling felt no guilt for her part in Eva´s death I think she was the only one who didn't feel guilt as I think that even Mr Birling did to a certain extent.
I think that Mrs Birling comes off worse in this play. She seems to be hard and cold with no sensitivity at all and shows no wrong for Eva at all. She was keen to direct the blame away from herself claiming that Eva, 'only had herself to blame'. Mrs Birling does involve herself and her son into a hole as she says, 'Secondly I blame the young man who was the father of the child' unknown to her she was describing her son, as he was the father of the child.
Eric was the last person to come under scrutiny from the Inspector. He had spent a night with Eva and she had fallen pregnant with his child. Eric had no stable relationship with Eva as Gerald did. On describing his night with her he said, 'I didn't even remember it that's the hellish thing'. Eric also admits to stealing money from his father's office in order to support Eva. However he was very truthful and admitted straight away that, 'I got it from the office'.
Eric does show remorse and even said: 'I'm not likely to forget'. However he does not take the blame for Eva´s death instead he blames Mrs Birling saying to her, 'Then - you killed her'. Eric is the only character that does blame another person in the room. It is hard to know whether he does sincerely blame Mrs Birling or whether he is trying to divert the blame away from himself. Either way it does show that he is not very loyal to his family. Although Eric does come across as weak and immature you cannot hate him after all he was not a malicious person like his parents were. I do think Eric still feels guilty deep inside.
Eva was the last person who we know was involved she committed suicide. I do think that she must take some blame after all she was the one ultimately took her own life. She had some control over her fate as well. If she hadn't caused trouble at the factory, smiled when Sheila tried on the unsuitable hat, become a mistress to Gerald, slept with Eric or used the Birling name she may have been lying on a slab with burnt out insides.
The inspector shows a photo to each member of the Birling family but the strange thing is that he showed the picture at different times. So each of them were fooled to believe that the inspector was talking about the same girl 'the inspector interposes himself between them and the photograph'. The way the inspector conducts his investigation ' I'd like some information' he don't ask any questions instead he makes statements so the audience feel as if he already knows everything.
The Inspectors goal was to make all of the characters feel guilty for what they had done to Eva Smith, and he was very successful in doing so, as he had turned the family against each other and upside down. I'm not sure if he meant to do that purposely, but he made them think about life and how one action, can make a lot of difference.
When the inspector left if he left them 'staring, subdued and wondering'. Shila was still crying, Mrs.B had collapsed into a chair, Eric was brooding desperately and Mr.B was the only active one. After knowing that the inspector was a ghost some were just relieved and forgot about what happened, it took a real inspector to visit for it to effect on them ' they stare guilty and dumbfounded'.
J B Priestly deliberately makes Eva out to be the helpless victim in order for the others deeds to seem much worse. I don't think that you can fully blame Eva for her death, as she did not know how things would work out. There is no right or wrong person to blame for Eva´s death. Each person had a little to 'help' Eva make up her mind to commit suicide so in my opinion they each should take a little blame. However when each person made Eva´s life a little harder they had no idea that their actions would cause this much devastation. I am sure that other people have done much worse things with no consequences so perhaps it wasn't fair that these people had to take any blame for Eva´s death.
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