The play

Gerald Croft is the next to influence hey life. Gerald Croft is also the future husband of Sheila Birling. It was March 1911 at this point and Eva Smith who Gerald knew as Daisy Renton was in the Palace Bar and so was Gerald. When he noticed her in the corner not really enjoying herself as "Old Joe Meggarty half drunk and goggle-eyed, had wedged her in to a corner" so he went over and told him a little lie about the manager wanting to see him. So he and the Eva could leave the Palace Bar and go to the "Country Hotel" for a few drinks and a chat. This is when she told him that her name was Daisy Renton and not Eva Smith. Only two nights later they meet again accidentally this is when he found out she didn't have a penny to spend and was very hard up. So he put her up in some flat that a friend had given him the key to look after while he was away. "I insisted on Daisy moving into those rooms and I made her take some money to keep her going". The only reason he says he did this was because he "didn't like the idea of her going back to the Palace Bar". Eventually she became his mistress it would have been easier for him to get her into this predicament because he was a higher class and rich were as she was lower class and poor. Then after a few weeks he broke it off with her. When they broke up Gerald offered money to her so she could eat and live properly, but Eva would not take any money off him and that was the last that Gerald Croft seen of her.

Sybil Birling the wife of Arthur Birling was the next person who the inspector talked to. Mrs Birling was a member of the Brumley Women's Charity Organization. The women of Brumley could go there if they had no money or were bringing up children or were just poor, and if the organization thought the problem was big enough they would give them an amount of money to live off. The organization had done a lot of good work. In around March 1912 a young woman who named herself "Mrs Birling" came to the organization but she was let down. Because she had lied about a matter "she wasn't married, and that the story she told at first-about a husband who'd deserted her -was quite false" but Sybil Birling soon got the truth out of her. What she found out was that she did know who the father was and she would not marry him. Mrs Birling said that the father should at least support her. She also told her that the father was a youngster-silly and wild and drinking too much and this is when Mrs Birling lost her patience. The girl also said she had been offered money but did not want to take it as she seemed to think it was not his, he must have stolen it from somewhere. The girl was given no money from the council as they couldn't believe her as she had told lies before. Mrs Birling takes no responsibility for the girl's death and says that she "secondly' I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have". She then tells the inspector that he should do his duty and find the man responsible. To her surprise the inspector seems to think that the man involved is her very own son Eric Birling. This also tells us a lot about the people. The wealthy can decide whether someone has money or not.

Eric Birling first meets Eva Smith in the Palace Bar in November 1911. He was the "youngster-silly and wild and drinking too much" man that Eva Smith had told his mother all about when she went to the Organization. The night they met Eric was a bit far gone he had brought her a few drinks in the Palace Bar. Then they both went back to Eva's lodgings and that is when it happened even though he couldn't remember it. Then two weeks later they met again but not by appointment in the Palace Bar they had more to drink but not as much as the time before then both once again went back to her house and they talked to each other and found things out about each other then they made love even though he was not in love with her but just fancied her a little. But the next time he saw her she told him she was going to be having his baby. She turned him down to marriage as she said he did not love her enough. Eric kept giving her money to keep her going until she refused to take any more. He gave her over £50:00 which was a great amount in those days. This is where we found out that Eva was right and he had stolen the money from his father's office but he says he intended to pay it back, but his father, Arthur Birling was not happy. As soon as she stopped getting money Eric stopped seeing her and from that day it was the last he had heard from her. So Eric now finds out that his mother refused her money so he blames his mother for her death. The inspector leaves the house after speaking to them for the last time.

Later in the night Gerald Croft returns after a walk to clear his head. He had been talking to a friend who was a policeman and he asked about a new inspector, the one who had interviewed them. He was told there was no such man. So Gerald returns to tell the family, they then ring the hospital to see if anyone has been brought in with Eva Smith's description, to find no one had. Mr Birling puts down the phone puzzled. A couple of minutes later there is a phone call from the hospital to say that a girl by the name of Eva Smith has just been brought in. She was dead. And that is how it ends. People have come up with many different reasons for the end of this story but there is still no explanation.

Sarah Carroll 10DM