Although Mr Birling shows relatively little guilt or remorse for Eva's death, I do not feel that he is entirely responsible as at the end of the play he does in fact feel very guilty when the Inspector delivers his final speech. He says, " Look Inspector-I'd give thousands-yes thousands.." indicating that he did in fact begin to accept some of the blame. Also he did behave as many other employers of that time would have done. Money in this era was a precious thing and if an employer spotted what he saw as a trouble-maker who could cause him loss of profits he would do his utmost to get rid of the problem.
Sheila Birling is questioned next by the Inspector. Sheila is the daughter of the family and is described as ," a pretty girl in her early twenties...pleased about life...excited" The audience could see her as a sweet lively young girl who appreciates life in her little bubble that is the house and lifestyle which surrounds her. This makes her quite naive and immature.
Sheila first became acquainted with Ms Smith when Eva received a job at Milwards, a well known department store. Sheila and her mother made purchases at this store frequently. Eva worked as a sales assistant at this store and Sheila got Eva fired when she lost her temper at her for smiling at her in a way which she found offensive. Sheila could be compared to her father as she too helped to cause Eva's death by getting her sacked from her job but here the similarities end. Upon hearing of Ms Smith's death, Sheila feels immediately responsible and wishes to take on all of the blame. As she feels so guilty when in fact she did relatively little, I believe that Sheila is not solely to blame. She also continues to feel guilty after learning that there was not an Eva Smith. She still feels that her acts were immoral and that they should not have done everything which they had done as it may have affected someone else.
Gerald is the next character to be interrogated by the Inspector. Gerald is a calm and sensible person, favoured very much by Mr and Mrs Birling and although a few years his senior, liked by Eric also. The audience should see him as a self-assured, well mannered man who is constantly at ease with the world and generally a 'nice ' person.
His involvement with Eva Smith or as she is now known, Daisy Renton, started out very honourably. His tale starts in a bar where he spots Eva/Daisy being cornered by a drunken Aldermann Meggarty. He then learns of her homelessness and offers a flat for her to live in for the moment. He gave Eva/Daisy everything which she craved for at that point in her life, a home, food, money and the thing which she craved most of all; companionship. She soon became his mistress but Gerald broke it off and did not see her again. Although Gerald could be seen as a user, stringing her along as long as he needed her, he did provide her with some happiness for a long time, something which she had not had for a long time. He felt genuinely upset at the news of Daisy's death, he was so affected that he had to leave the room. As he cared for her and felt guilty when he knew who she was I feel that Gerald is only partly to blame. He is however more to blame than Sheila as he does not care about the girl to greatly until he learns that he knew of her. He then fails to care after he learns that Daisy did not really die, insted of feeling guilty for what he did do to her.
Eric Birling was associated with Eva due to his relationship with her. Eric is seen as immature and surrounded by the bubble protecting him from the real world, much like his sister. He is described by Priestly as, " much less at ease than his sister... half shy, half assertive."
Eric met this girl at the Palace Bar, a place renowned for young ladies who wanted to find young men. He began talking to her and he then offered to take her home whereupon he forced his way into her house and made love to her. His excuse for his behaviour was primarily that he was drunk. He continued to see her for some time before she told him that she thought that she was pregnant. She blatantly refused to take any money from Eric as she knew that it was stolen from his father's business and she also refused to do what was at that time considered to be the decent thing and marry Eric because she knew that he did not love her. She decided to get help from the local organization for Brumley's Women. Eric, although immoral and irresponsible in his actions, did offer to support her and was evven prepared to go and steal from his own father's business in order to do so. It was considered very wrong to steal from anyone, let alone your own family in this era and any actions resembling this at all, even for a perfectly acceptable reason was extremely frowned upon in society.
Eric also continued to feel guilty after learning that there was no Eva/Daisy, just as his sister did. All of this shows that Eric, despite all of his irresponsible actions, did try to do what was morally right afterwards and therefore should not have the most blame put on his conscience.
I thought that Mrs Birling was the most at fault because her actions were chosen with no thought whatsoever to what the consequences may be or whether what she was doing was morally right. Mrs Birling is described as ' about fifty in age...cold....her husband's social superior....unaffected by the Inspector's interrogation..."
All the way through the act Mrs Birling has no remorse or guilt for what has happened to this girl. To her, the very matter of the death is beneath her and her family. In her mind, the death is a great shame, but nothing to do with her and nothing for her to worry about.
Mrs Birling met Eva/Daisy two weeks before her supposed death. Eva/Daisy came to the Brumley Women's Charity Oraginzation appealing for money and help to support her child. Abortion was out of the question as it was not in legal practice at this time and although certain doctors claimed that they could perform the act, you took a great risk by placing yourself in their hands. As Eva/Daisy's child was conceived with Eric, she chose to take his surname. Mrs Birling took this offensively, thinking that the girl meant to be impertinent and lost her temper (which could be compared to Sheila's loss of temper) which led her to become prejudiced against her case from the start.
It becomes apparant as the story progresses that Mrs Birling knows relatively little about her family's lives and the lives of other folk outside of her home. She knows nothing of respectable men such as Aldermann Meggarty visiting places which she would frown upon to find a female companion for the evening. She knows nothing of the fact that Eric was a heavy drinker either. She obviously did not know of Eric's relationship with Eva/Daisy and when she took her surname she used her power as an important person in the committee to get her case rejected.
Mrs Birling does not feel at all remorseful for the girl's death and her view fails to change at all during the duration of the play. She remains cold and stone-faced even when every other member of the family has been accused and has accepted the blame.
She sees Sheila as immature and naive throughout the play and does not realise how much Sheila matures towards the end of the play. She constantly puts her down, telling her to stop being a ,"hysterical young girl".
My main reason for thinking that Mrs Birling is responsible is because she was not only the last step before Eva/Daisy ended her life but because in my eyes she was the most powerful one. Eva/Daisy was at a time where she was most emotional and she must have been feeling desperate as her life had progressed in a downward spiral ever since she lost her job for fighting for what she believed in. However she ploughed through, determined to help herself instead of living off hand outs and pity. When she presented her case to Mrs Birling she did not expect a miracle but did hope for a little help. When Mrs Birling refused her help, she must have felt like that was the last straw. She had missed the last train to any sort of life improvement and felt that she had no other option but to end her life and on-going misery.
Mrs Birling carried out her actions with no thought to what effects it could have and (what is even morally worse) then continued to dismiss her mistake after the 'death'. For these reasons I feel that if anyone, she is the most to blame. The majority of the audience will agree with my views as many performances of the play will portray Mrs Birling as, if you like,'the baddie', obviously dislikable from the start, making them jump to conclusions about her personality before the play has even started.
