With Brief Reference To Each Character’s Part In Eva Smith’s/ Daisy Renton’s Tragedy, Discuss The Degree Of Responsibility Each Should Bear.

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With Brief Reference To Each Character's Part In Eva Smith's/ Daisy Renton's Tragedy, Discuss The Degree Of Responsibility Each Should Bear.

Although each member of the Birling family and Gerald Croft have had contact with Eva Smith/Daisy Renton during the previous two years, none of them is aware of the others' involvement in the tragedy until the day of the inspector's visit. He makes them aware of the part they have played in her tragic end. The characters each react differently to the news and to the degree of responsibility, which they should bear.

The first person to have contact with Eva was Arthur Birling. He had employed her at his works until September 1910. At first when the inspector had asked him about Eva he couldn't remember her until the inspector showed him a photograph of her. He then remembered her and explained about his involvement. Eva had been involved in a dispute over low wages and because she had been one of the ringleaders in the strike, he had dismissed her.

When told of the consequences of his actions, that Eva was out of work for two months and desperate for money, Arthur Birling showed no remorse. He explained that:

"The girl had been causing trouble in the works.

I was quite justified."

Gerald Croft backed him up whereas Sheila and Eric disapproved.

Arthur Birling resents being challenged by the inspector and especially resents the suggestion that he just uses girls for cheap labour and getting rich on this exploitation. To Arthur Birling, as to others of his kind, workers were there to do a job and it was not his responsibility to look after their welfare. He firmly believed that he was being fair to his workers by paying them the going rates. Eva was getting "twenty two and six" which compared well with a bricklayer's labourer who got eighteen shillings and a police constable who got twenty seven shillings a week. So in his eyes he was not underpaying his workers by the standards of 1910. He considered it his duty to keep labour costs down and stamp out any unrest among his workforce. To him Eva Smith was just a troublemaker.

Although Arthur Birling set Eva's tragedy in motion I don't think he was to blame at all for her death because he was just behaving as any other manufacturer at that time would have done. However, I did dislike his attitude when he found out about her death. He was too concerned about keeping the story quiet to protect his position in society and his knighthood. Arthur Birling's attitude that "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself" was precisely what JB Priestly was fighting against when he wrote this play. He believed that we should all help each other and take responsibility for our actions.

After being sacked from Birling's Eva was out of work for two months but then she got a job as a sales assistant in a clothes shop. It was here where Sheila's involvement took place. She had been a valued customer at Milwards and used this to her advantage to get Eva dismissed. Sheila had complained about Eva for laughing at her when she tried on a dress. What had perhaps annoyed her even more was that Eva looked better in the dress than she did. Eva was very pretty and Sheila was jealous of her and because of this she "couldn't be sorry for her".
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Unlike her father Sheila felt extremely guilty for having Eva dismissed. As she says "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a whole lot worse". Eva's second dismissal left her in a worse state than her first dismissal and she became despondent. Sheila has been the cause of this further degeneration but we feel less inclined to blame her because of her remorse. Whereas Arthur sacked Eva quite cold bloodedly and never gave her a second thought, Sheila's action was the result of a fit of temper and she regretted it immediately. She ...

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