At the end of the play, it is plain that Birling’s motives are not to save Eric from being found out, but to protect himself from a “social scandal”. To do this he will go to all lengths to distort or totally disregard the truth. H e is blind to this hypocrisy, and indifferent when it is pointed out. Just before the end of the play he happily argues that “the whole thing’s different now”, and ridicules his family for being taken in by the Inspector. He proves that he is shallow and that what he really values most is his place in society. Providing his public reputation is safe, he will never change and he couldn’t care less whether he had just committed some obscene crime!
Sheila, the Birling’s daughter, is highly impressionable, and intensely affected by the Inspector’s revelations. She and her brother Eric are the only characters in the play who give any cause for optimism. She has an honest character, and lacks the cold-hearted attitude of her parents. During the play she witnesses her father unmasked as a hard-hearted employer, her fiancé as a liar and adulterer, her brother as the father of an illegitimate unborn child, her mother as a callous and cruel woman and herself as a vain, spiteful and insecure girl.
Her part played in the lead up to Eva’s death was that she was trying on dresses at a shop called Milwards. Eva was working there after being sacked from Birling’s factory. Sheila became angry because she thought Eva was laughing at her because she didn’t suit a dress she was trying on. So in a bout of jealous rage, she complained to the manager and Eva was promptly sacked.
Sheila is sensitive to Eva’s subsequent plight, “I think it was a mean thing to do”. She gets upset easily, for instance she becomes distressed when being questioned by the Inspector. She is obviously insecure, from the fact that she was jealous of how pretty Eva was. Perhaps she suspects that Gerald is having an affair; he spent a lot of time away from her in the summer. She is also intelligent and is the first to have an insight into the Inspector and also the slowest to judge, “You know…I don’t understand you…”
When the Inspector interrogates her, she immediately regrets her actions, “If only I could help her know, I would”. Sheila admits she was jealous of Eva, “At least I’m trying to tell the truth.” Also she is the first to blame herself saying, “I know I’m to blame”.
Sheila feels responsible and guilty because of the events at Milwards. She can relate to Eva because they both wanted/ want to be loved. Her stage directions throughout the play show what emotions she is feeling: (crying quietly)… She also understands that the whole family were collectively responsible, “You’re forgetting one thing. Everything we said had happened…really had happened.” She is ashamed of her family because they won’t admit responsibility, “We’ve no excuse now for putting on airs and that if we’ve any sense we won’t try”. She has the most excuse for her actions because she thought Gerald was cheating on her so she was probably feeling extremely vulnerable. She is just a young woman and all women go through a stage of feeling like she did, even Eva would have.
Her parents are irritated at her honesty because they feel it hasn’t anything to do with any of the family. Some quotes that show this are, “What’s the matter with that child?” and “to behave sensibly Sheila-which is more than what you’re doing”. This also shows that they still treat her as a child. She is about to be married and yet they still send her to bed and call her a child! At times, she seems to be a conspirator of the Inspector; she criticizes other characters just as he does. Her parents she this as disloyalty but Sheila declares that there is no point concealing the truth because the Inspector will uncover it. Sheila is the character who learns the most; before she had been content with socially acceptable indifferences to hypocrisy, but Inspector Goole’s revelations are a learning experience for her. She objects to her parents deceiving her saying, “…I’m not a child, don’t forget. I’ve a right to know.” At the end of the play she sees that although Inspector Goole shook them, once they realised he was a fake, they simply return to how they were at the beginning. Because she is the most sensitive of the family, Sheila is the first to realise what the Inspector is trying to make them realise, She sees through the other characters barricades they have constructed to keep the Inspector out. She seems to instantly know what the Inspector knows about them and is the first to think about whom the Inspector actually is.
Although Sheila identifies with the dead girl, her spiteful complaint against Eva is probably the most indefensible action of all, because it was based merely on her own wounded vanity. But she felt bad about it at the time, regretted it deeply later and is honest enough to admit her share of the responsibility for Eva’s death. I think Sheila and her brother Eric represent the younger generation which J.B Priestly hoped is still fair-minded enough to learn to accept responsibility for others.
Gerald met Daisy Renton, A.K.A Eva Smith, – she changed her name- at the Palace Variety Theatre, where prostitutes were known to “hang out”, and rescued her from various drunkards. He gave he lodgings because he felt sorry for her but then eventually became lovers. He finished the affair with Daisy in the September before and said that she was expecting it.
After Birling’s speech about profit, Gerald replies “hear, hear”. This shows he is selfish and is anxious to please Birling. He only cares about himself and always agrees with Birling. He appears to be very slick. He is quite assertive towards people he has authority over, “Don’t look like that Sheila”. He is anxious to get into Birling’s good books, “…we’d have done the same thing…” He also has very little sympathy with the working class, “they’d be all broke”, and this shows that he and Birling are alike. He also is ultimately motivated by money and profit.
Like Mr and Mrs Birling, Gerald’s first impulse is to disguise his involvement with Eva; but unlike them, he does actually show genuine remorse when the news of her death finally sinks in. Furthermore we see that he helped Eva out of genuine compassion and didn’t take advantage of her in the same violent and drunken way that Eric did. Gerald did make Eva openly happy for a time, and in many ways is the least to blame for her death. He resents Sheila hearing what he did, “I think Miss Birling ought to be excused.” He knows their relationship will be over if she finds out how he betrayed her, but at the end of the play he seems to anticipate Sheila accepting the engagement ring again and affirms all is now well, “Everything’s all right now, Sheila. What about this ring?”
He admits he was wrong to use Eva as a love, “She didn’t blame me”. He seems concerned about Eva’s welfare, for instance he says, “She said, that she thought of leaving Brumley. Whether she did or not I don’t know. Did she?” He also shows some emotion, “I’m rather more upset by this business than I probably appear to be.” But as soon as he realises the Inspector is a fake, he is foolish enough to assume everything is back to normal again.
The male members of the family generally empathise with Gerald. As an example Birling tries to make Gerald’s affair less appalling by saying that “ a lot of young men…” He tries to excuse Gerald’s behaviour but Mrs Birling is shocked saying, “It’s disgusting to me”. The only good thing is that Sheila admits she is disgusted at what Gerald did, but admires him for his honesty and show of remorse, “I don’t dislike you as I did half an hour ago, Gerald.
Sybil Birling is even more arrogant than her husband is. She is introduced to the audience as his social superior and her manner (shown by the stage directions) indicates that she is very conscious of social position, especially her own, she separates the poor into the “deserving” and the “undeserving classes”. She uses these separations to verify her own actions. She is snobbish, stubborn and resents being contradicted, even when being caught telling downright lies by the Inspector.
Mrs Birling’s part in the events leading up to Eva’s demise, were that she personally turned Eva away from her charity when she needed the help most. Eva was pregnant with Eric’s child -not that Mrs Birling knew that Eric was the father- and came to ask Mrs Birling for help because she had no money and didn’t know what to do. Mrs Birling didn’t like Eva because she used the name “Birling” as her own. So as a consequence of her immense dislike of Eva, she rejected her plea for assistance and left her to commit suicide.
Sybil does seem genuinely shocked to hear that her son -Eric- has a drinking problem, although Sheila and Gerald already knew about his addiction. The stage directions are “staggered” which shows she is shaken by the prospect of having a drunkard for a son. Her concern that her daughter should not be exposed to “unpleasant” things suggests that she still sees Sheila as a child. It is either the case that Mrs Birling is genuinely unaware of the events surrounding her life, or is consciously blind to anything she does not desire to see. This shows the extent of her arrogant and egotistic nature. An example of this is how she dismisses the news of Eva Smith’s suicide, “Though naturally I don’t know anything about this girl”, and “I did nothing I’m ashamed of…” She cannot see how the death of a “lower-class” person could be of any interest to her. Mrs Birling sees herself as qualified to judge other people’s actions; she is prejudiced against the society of other classes. She, along with Mr. Birling, views status very highly. When being questioned by Inspector Goole, she tries to use her husband’s social position to intimidate the Inspector. But she becomes confused when this doesn’t work, “You know of course that my husband was Lord mayor…” She doesn’t want to get involved for the sake of her dignity, but she eventually opens up after the Inspector thoroughly questions her. She finally admits her part but doesn’t see how it led to Eva’s suicide.
Eva Smith’s pleas for support offended Mrs Birling, because the girl was “giving herself ridiculous airs” and “claiming elaborate fine feelings”. She doesn’t believe that a girl of “her position” should be claiming “scruples” and that Eva should have got the silly notions about love out of her head. She doesn’t admit any responsibility for Eva’s death, “I did nothing I am ashamed of”. She has only herself to blame for the grief being caused. She is not upset a pregnant woman died, but after learning that it was her own grandchild, that is when she shows remorse. But this just goes to show that unless it directly affects her then it doesn’t matter. Her vindictive attitude towards the father of Eva’s child changes dramatically when she learns that he is her own son, clearly illustrating her extreme hypocrisy. Whereas before she said to “make sure that he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility”, when she found out that it was her son she cries out that she “didn’t understand”. She feels everyone else is responsible, “I blame the young man who was the father of the child…”. She also has no shame for what she has done, remarking that, “I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all.” When the Inspector has left, Sybil aggressively criticizes the others for not standing firm against someone who is their social inferior. She argues that if she had been present when the Inspector first arrived, she would have dealt with his impertinence severely. At the end of the play, Mrs Birling gives the impression that she hasn’t learnt to behave in a compassionate or caring way, she makes a joke out of the whole thing, “In the morning they’ll be as amused as we are”. Perhaps the Inspector’s call has only served to harden her attitudes.
The younger generation of the household is disgusted with their mother. Sheila thinks it was a “cruel and vile thing to do” and Eric is furious when he finds out that Sybil turned Eva away from her charity. He shouts at her, “Then - you killed her…you turned her away…damn you”. He hates her for this and becomes further infuriated saying, “my child – your own grandchild- you killed them both…” He shows he is angry with Sybil at the heartless prejudices that she holds.
Eric Birling is the young son of Mr. and Mrs. Birling. Although in his early twenties, Eric is quite immature and although almost shy, shows a slightly cynical temperament. He is annoyed that other people, such as Eva/Daisy, treat him like a child, but at the same time acts like a child too. He is the “left out” and rejected son. He seems not to possess any of his parents’ qualities but is rather pompous and slightly insensitive at the beginning of the play. We get the impression that he is trying to be something he isn’t; to fit in with the family even though he is unlike them. He doesn’t feel that his mother and father love him, “You don’t understand, you never have done.” It might be deliberate on Priestly’s part, that Eric seems to represent a generalisation of male members of the Royal family going astray. Maybe Priestly is commenting on the state of the monarchy?
Eric had a large part to play in Eva’s downfall. He met Eva at the “Palace Bar” and slept with her. After she became pregnant with his child, he stole money from his father’s office to give to her, so as to support her. Unfortunately she eventually rejected his offers of money and that was when she went to Eric’s mother, Sybil, to seek advice. He wanted to marry her, but she declined his proposal.
When first interrogated by the Inspector, he is secretive about his involvement, but once most of the evidence is laid out in front of him, he is not afraid to confront his deeds, “In a way she treated me- as if I were a kid.” He cooperates with the Inspector, telling him everything. At first he feels totally responsible for Eva’s death, but as the play progresses, he blames it on his mother and then goes on to blame the whole family. He does show maturity in that he takes some of the responsibility himself, “We all helped to kill her” and “The fact remains I did what I did…I don’t feel like sitting down and having a nice cozy talk.” He also says that she wouldn’t marry him, which suggests that he did actually propose to her. Even if it was because he knew she was pregnant, he at least shows compassion and a sense of morality. In fact it seems that only him and his sister, Sheila, have the decency to care about how Daisy/Eva felt, and don’t just consider their own feelings.
From the way, other characters address Eric, we get the impression that like Sheila, he is treated like a inferior. Mrs Birling always contradicts his views along with Mr. Birling and his father refers to him as spoilt, “Your trouble is you’ve been spoilt”. Priestly often uses the stage directions to indicate Eric’s mood. For instance his actions are described as “Bitterly”, “Sulkily” and “quietly”. We get the impression that Eric and his parents’ views clash, so he becomes reclusive. During the first two acts, it seems that Eric fubctions mainly as an annoyance to Birling’s indifference, incessantly asking what his father regards as silly questions.
He does show responsibility for Eva’s death. He has acknowledged the fact that she is dead, and that it is due to his involvement and possibly others. At first he blames it on his mother, but eventually admits that he thinks it was everybody’s fault, “We all helped to kill her”. The most disturbing thing about Eric is that when he describes the first time that him and Daisy made love, we get the impression that he raped her. The reason I think this is because he says, “I’m not very clear about it, but afterwards she told me she didn’t want me to go in but that-well, I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty-and I threatened to make a row.” The perception is that he forced himself on her. I think that in spite of the fact that Priestly wrote the character of Eric to represent the younger generation, I also think Eric is meant to represent the naïve, youthful, impulsive and fanciful side of humanity. We would deny it, but every one of us needs to “let their hair down” and have at one point we will all experience the same trials as Eric does. He did something wrong, but I think Priestly is saying that we learn from our mistakes and that we would be naïve to think that someone should be punished for eternity just because of one stupid deed.
The Inspector is a figure of accusation. He compels each member of the family to admit his or her own cowardly part in Eva’s death. He believes that they all played a part in Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s suicide. He makes them face up to their guilt and fears, but he also leaves them to decided for themselves whether to continue with the ignorant life they have been leading or whether to change their ways. He is most harsh on those who don’t admit their crimes openly; for instance he is most tolerant with Sheila because she admits straight away her part, but is curt with Mrs Birling as she resists him the most.
Throughout the play, we discover many things about the Birling family. We watch their household crumble in the face of danger and we watch them discover things about themselves that they didn’t even know. It is difficult to decide who is most responsible for Eva’s death because they all had just as equally damaging part to play in her suicide. Nevertheless the two characters who stick out the most are Eric and Mrs Birling. She was evil, unforgiving and turned Eva away at her hour of need and Eric treated her like a prostitute. He managed to get her pregnant, then ran away because she refused his money. I feel that after examining the evidence against both characters that it is Eric who is most to blame. Mrs Birling was utterly evil and disgustingly pompous, but at the same time I pity her. She obviously was brought up among a society that demanded that she behaved in a certain way. She just became too indulgent in her own ideals, and locked herself into a vicious circle from which she couldn’t escape. When she married Mr. Birling, she married below her class. To convince herself that he was just as “stately” as she was, she set up screens around herself and her family. She lied so much to herself that she began to believe that what she thought was right. She justified her own actions, by simply ignoring the truth. But on the other hand, Eric tried to escape from the world in which he grew up. He became a spoilt brat, spurred on by the idea of rebellion. He had no need to wreck Eva’s life, but for a few nights of passion he couldn’t care less. He was not educated about the “outside world”, and acted like many young gentlemen of the upper-classes would have done. But he was naïve and foolish to think that he could watch life pass by, without growing up and seeing things as they should be. He deliberately stole, lied and blundered his way through those few months, not caring about the consequences. That, to me, is enough to find him guilty of driving Eva to commit suicide. Although it could be argued that he didn’t directly affect Eva’s actual suicide, I believe he was the “straw that broke the donkey’s back”.
