Mrs Birling has a duty of responsibility in her position as a woman’s charity worker and Priestley uses her to represent the hypocrisy of the upper classes attitudes towards social responsibility. Mrs birling shows her sense of self-importance with “a prominent member of the Brumley Women’s charity” emphasising her public appearance as superior to lower classes. When she admits her being “prejudiced me against her case” revealing that she sees no wrong in looking down on lower classes and dismissing them. Mrs Birling accepts no responsibility with “go look for the father of the child, it’s his responsibility” emphasising her double standards and with this Priestley starts to orchestrate her downfall. Towards the end of the play, Mrs Birling continues to reflect the younger generations newfound sense of responsibility.
Priestley uses Gerald to represent the failure of the aristocracy to behave responsibly. Initially he represents hope but later on in the play he reveals Priestley’s disappointment in the behaviour of the most wealthy. He abuses his status and takes advantage of Eva’s vulnerability in order to ‘appear’ responsible. Priestley presents Gerald as the hero of the story with “a cry for help” suggesting that Eva needed help and Gerald could have been her saviour. This intern shows his arrogance and insincerity with him being in the palace bar, reminding the audience that Gerald is failing in his responsibility to be Sheila’s future husband. This might highlight that Gerald has the ability to portray himself in a favourable light to reinforce him being the hero of the story. Priestley hints at Gerald’s power over Eva with “I insisted” as the imperative of ‘I’ shows him abusing his powers and exploits his position even though he did show kindness towards Eva, he also turns her away when he is finished with her. Towards the end Gerald is happy to relinquish any responsibility with “no more real evidence” aligning him with the older generation and reverts to his aristocratic bubble of entitlement.
The Inspector is presented as a representative of socialism, preaching the message of social responsibility to the Birling family and warning the characters and the audience of the dangers of not embracing socialism. The Inspector mentions to the Birlings and Gerald that the incidents leading to Eva’s death were a “chain of events” emphasising that everyone is responsible for each other and that Eva’s death was due to a lack of social responsibility and an individualist mentality. The noun ‘chain’ suggests the bonds between everyone are unbreakable and that not accepting your social responsibility as a member of society is inevitable. It is The Inspectors “duty to ask questions” shows will not be intimidated by those of a higher class as he sees this as his moral obligation, reinforcing the fact that we all have responsibilities otherwise we would be in a continuous loop of the same mistakes. His final speech is almost entirely focused on the theme and the idea that we are “members of one body.” This links to the idea of socialism and collective responsibility if society is to function fully.
Priestley presents the younger generation as a beacon of hope for a change in society as they are the only ones able to accept their social responsibility. Priestley shows that Shelia has learnt from the experience and is taking her new knowledge of social responsibility seriously with “it scares me the way you talk.” Sheila’ repetition of ‘you’ and ‘your’ echoes the inspectors rhetoric direct address and shows the younger generation have adapted to the inspectors socialist message. By the end of the play, Eric, like his sister Sheila, becomes aware of his own responsibilities with “the fact remains that I did what I did” showing his newfound maturity and responsibility towards Eva’s death.
Overall, the changing attitudes of social responsibility are exemplified by Priestley through the different characters in the play, and he uses his influence to persuade the audience that a shift in society’s attitudes towards each other is needed for civilisation to better itself.
