He is shown by Priestley to be a pompous, selfish, complacent man, Ex-Lord Mayor, potential Knighthood. Certainly an influential figure within the community, a man that conveys respect.
At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling says, ‘The Titanic, unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’ The upper classes stood a much better chance of survival than the lower classes when it sank, as indeed was the case in society itself. The 1945 audience knew the fate of the Titanic and so Mr. Birling immediately appears in a bad light although to be fair his view was that of everyone in 1912 and so he is a stereotype of society then.
Mr. Birling’s attitude is shown in his words, ‘A man has to make his own way, has to look after himself’ and, referring to the working class, ‘If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people they’ll soon be asking for the earth.’ Mr. Birling has a selfish attitude towards life, and also an attitude to only care for himself and family, and basically forget everybody else, in fact, this is exactly what he tells a speech on at the celebration of Sheila’s and Gerald’s engagement, ‘a man has to look after himself - and his family too, of course’ which gives the impression of the selfishness, and also greed. Another example of this is when he tells a speech about how it is the best day of his life, ‘Gerald, I’m going to tell you frankly, without any pretences, that your engagement with Sheila means a lot to me. She’ll make you happy, and I’m sure you’ll make her happy. Your just the type of son-in-law I wanted’ makes people think whether he wants them to get married for themselves, or for him, and whether it means a lot to him sentimentally, or a lot to him in the business world.
Sheila Birling, Arthur’s daughter, has a very different set of characteristics. When she recognises the photograph she immediately runs out the room, as if in disgust of her previous actions, a complete contradiction to her father’s views. She later returns guiltily, ‘You knew it was me all along didn’t you’ immediately her character is shown to be sympathetic because of this guilt. Sheila explains to the others how she was entirely responsible for Eva Smith loosing her job at Milwards, ‘I went to the manager at Milwards and I told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl I’d never go near the place again and I’d persuade mother to close our account with them.’ This shows that Sheila, like her father, abused her position as a wealthy member of the community.
Sheila’s response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things, that came out of the play. She is genuinely upset with the death of Eva or Daisy, and learns from her actions, unlike Birling. Not only she admits her faults and it seems as though she takes too much guilt on her shoulders, but seems keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, ‘I’ll never do it again’ she exclaims.
Mrs Birling shows characteristics in some ways, to be very similar to her husband, and denies any responsibility herself; instead choosing to blame others, which later becomes a very bad decision. Mrs Birling treats the inspector in a patronising, threatening way, ‘I realise you may have to conduct some kind of enquiry but I must say you seem to be conducting it in a rather peculiar and offensive manner. You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago.’ She thinks highly of herself and is ready to abuse her position, like other members of the family.
As a member of the Bromley Women’s Charity Organisation Mrs Birling is the last member of the family to have had contact with Eva Smith, having rejected Eva because she had used the family name to claim to the organisation, Mrs Birling ironically tells Eva Smith, to look for the father of the child. Mrs Birling refuses to show any guilt over Eva's death, ‘even though the girl had been trying to protect the father of the child because he had been giving her stolen money and that he was a youngster silly and wild and drinking too much.’ She does not realise of course; that she is describing her own son Eric, Mrs Birling even suggests he ought to be dealt with very severely.
Mrs Birling only later realises the truth later in the play, where she becomes shocked and upset. As Mrs Birling is the last to have been in contact with Eva Smith and had the opportunity to offer help, her case is not good and shows what a selfish character she is. It seems that like her husband, Mrs Birling has only her own prospects in thought and is distinctly uninterested by the needs of others, no regret is felt and it seems that she is totally unmoved by the whole incident, only caring when she discovers that her own son is involved.
Eric Birling returns to the play in Act 3 and under questioning from the inspector reveals the extent of his drinking, his relationship with Eva Smith and the fact that he was taking money from his father’s business in order to support her because she was pregnant. Although Eric is young and immature he feels genuine guilt and remorse about what he has done. When he discovers that his mother had turned Eva away, his guilt and remorse turn to anger, ‘Then you killed her. She came to you to protect me, my child, your grandchild you killed them both damn you, damn you.’
It is also shown that Eric and his father have no relationship, ‘You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble.’ It is true that Eric is also responsible, although this can be put down to his naivety and youth, whereas the others should have known better. Eric did try to help Eva Smith after she became pregnant, albeit with money stolen from his father.
Gerald Croft, the only person who is not a direct relation to the Birling family, but is engaged to Sheila, also has significant involvement with the death of Eva Smith. Gerald recognises the name Daisy Renton as soon as he hears the inspector say it. After at first trying to make Sheila leave the room, for reasons that become more apparent later, he tells the story of how he met Eva Smith, or as he knew her Daisy Renton. Gerald claims to have rescued her from horrible old Meggart in the County Hotel and set her up in a friend’s set of rooms, where she later, inevitably, became his mistress.
The play starts off with the Birling family celebrating their daughter’s engagement to Gerald Croft. The family included Mr Birling, Mrs Birling, Eric Birling, Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. Arthur Birling is glad because Gerald is the son of his business competitor and it will be a merger of businesses. Through the middle of the dinner there is a knock at the door. This is where we meet inspector Goole. He tells the family that a girl has committed suicide and that in one way or another they are responsible. Mr Birling was responsible for sacking the girl from his factory. Sheila Birling was responsible because she got the girl sacked from a shop where she works. Eric Birling was seeing her but they broke it off, and Gerald Croft was having an affair with her but he also broke it off. All of their morals are tested and they are all put to the test because none of them really know the truth about what they have done until the inspector brings it out of them.
After the inspector goes the family finds out that he was a fake and that no girl had died. Arthur and Mrs Birling are glad that their secret is safe but Sheila and Eric still feel terrible. There is still one final twist at the end. The phone rings and someone says ‘Some girl has died on the way to the hospital and an inspector will be on his way round.’
Priestley wants to show us that we have a responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation. Our actions affect others. This is the concept of collective responsibility. Priestley says, ‘things could really improve if only people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others’. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them.
It may be more wise to blame society and the way in which we live, as it is Eva Smiths class and time that set her apart, no real crime has been committed and it is more a case of social conscience, consequently a moral responsibility should be shared by the family and their future actions affected to aid others and not just themselves. Overall they all had individual responsibility whether it was her job or social life and being used by the Birling’s.
The play is about society in general; Priestley perceptively performs this as he manipulates the effect of time difference to get his message across. He shows that in the early 20th century that the upper class had great power and wealth and did not care about the lower class but as this play shows, their affects were sometimes fatal.
The play was written in 1945, the final year of the Second World War. Priestley was trying to show the predominantly middle class audience that despite all the death and destruction of the Great War, the working class was no better off. The 1920’s and 1930’s were a time of unemployment, strikes and depression. This time around, Priestley says, things could really improve if only people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others.
The fact that his use of time sometimes makes it seem as if events have not yet happened and the characters might have a chance to change their actions, reflects this - there was a Second World War and people have a second chance to change things. The older Birling’s represent those who failed to learn from the First World War, while Sheila and Eric are the younger generations who still have a chance to learn and change. In conclusion, this play is a comment on the society of the Edwardian age, as well as being a play about relationships as a whole. Priestley sets out to show the failings of that society and succeeds.
