Who is the most responsible for the death of Eva Smith?

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Isobel Seddon        English essay                                                24.10.02

Who is the most responsible for the death of Eva Smith?

Introduction

In the play “An Inspector calls” by J.B. Priestly, the main focus of the plot is the death of Eva Smith. In this essay I will argue that Mrs Birling was the most responsible for her death.

        I will first describe the context of the play, the character Eva Smith and the circumstances of her death, put up my arguments about why the blame should mostly be put on Mrs Birling and then on the rest of the characters.

Context

The play is set in the dining room of the Birling’s house in Brumley, an industrial city in the North Midlands, on an evening in spring, 1912.

Eva Smith

Eva Smith had a terrible life. She was “a pretty, lively young girl with big dark eyes and soft brown hair”. She was “fresh, charming, warmhearted, articulate, mature and intelligent”. After all the trouble she’d had during her life she decided to end it in the first week of April 1912 aged 24, by “swallowing a load of disinfectant and died after several hours of agony”.

The Characters

To a degree all of the characters are responsible for the death of Eva Smith but I think Mrs Birling is the one who should have the most blame put on her. This is because when Eva came to her she just needed a little bit of help to get her ‘up and running’ again but Mrs Birling did the opposite and refused her. As it was the last straw she decided she couldn’t take it any more and killed herself in the most horrible way you could imagine.

Mrs Birling

        Mrs Birling is about fifty. She is a rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior.

When Eva Smith came to her at the Brumley Women’s Society, she came at the lowest point in her life as she had been turned down from many different jobs, was pregnant with a father who she didn’t want to marry as he was from a different class, he didn’t love her and he had stolen money to give to her. This is proven by Eric saying “I insisted on giving her enough money to keep her going - until she refused to take any more” thus showing her pride and morale. He also said “she didn’t want me to marry her. Said I didn’t love her” this shows her honesty and her views on wanting to speak the truth by not lying to herself that Eric loved her.

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Mrs Birling always felt justified about her actions. She proved this to herself by saying “I think she had only herself to blame”. She always wants to pass the blame onto someone else and does so at every chance she can. She only tries to pass the blame onto other people so she can feel good about herself and doesn’t have to feel guilty.

In Sheila’s speech on page 59 she says, “mother hardened her heart and gave her the final push that finished her”. I agree with this statement, as it is very true that she was ...

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