“…make his own way – look after himself – and his
family too…”
Arthur Birling is a capitalist who believes that it is a man’s “responsibility” to look after himself and his family. He feels that he has no “responsibility” towards his workers. He owes them nothing except their wages. He feels that his duty is to:
“…Keep labour costs down”.
That was a view shared by capitalists in 1912, including Gerald. He tries to enforce his ideas on his son Eric when he says:
“It’s about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities.”
He tells Eric that he will never be a good boss if he doesn’t follow his ideals. He wants to keep his profits high, so Eva Smith, the ringleader; had to go because she tried to ask for more money from her fellow workers.
Sheila Burling is introduced as a happy young woman whom, in the opening scene of the play is celebrating her engagement to Gerald. Though she seems to be happy she is treated very much so like a child:
“Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?”
When she the account the inspector gives of Eva Smith’s death she is genuinely mortified:
“Oh how horrible! Was it an accident?”
However, she is not as immature as she is portrayed. When she realises her part in the motive for Eva’s suicide, she immediately tries to take full responsibility and say’s that she would:
“Never, never do it again to anyone.”
She has learned a lesson from this experience, unlike her father who refuses to take any responsibility in it at all.
Gerald has also got a part to play:
“…chain of events…”
leading up to Eva Smith’s suicide. He only knows Eva as Daisy Renton - :
“Woman of the town.”
He is from an aristocratic family who would not think very well of him if they knew about his affair. We get the impression that he does genuinely feel pity and sympathy for Daisy/Eva when he realises that she does not belong at the Palace Bar Hotel:
“…if she didn’t want anymore of that sort of thing, she had better let me take her out of there.”
However, I am not entirely sure that he is honest. The facts suggest that he lied to Sheila about the affair, he lied to Daisy in a sense that he did not:
“…feel for her the way she felt for me…”
and she lied to him about her name. I am not sure whether he is trustworthy - nor completely responsible, except for his own happiness.
Mrs Birling’s image is revealed as a:
“…rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior.”
She pretends to have no knowledge of reality and other people’s lives; this is shown when she says:
“…a girl of that sort…”
She is very sure of her position in life and is very arrogant in her responses to the inspectors’ questions. She absolutely refuses to take any responsibility in the girl’s suicide and says it is her own fault for being raped. Unaware that Eric is the father of the child, she also says that Eva should speak to the father of the child. This act of hypocrisy proves that she really does not believe any of what she has been told by Eva. In a sense, she is like a child unwilling to take the blame for doing something wrong and again is being hypocritical:
“You’re behaving like a hysterical child.”
This is the comment made to Sheila as she desperately pleads with her mother to stop talking in such a rude manner and realise that Eric is the father. Her aristocratic behaviour prevents her from seeing the truth.
Eric out of all of the characters in:
‘An Inspector Calls’
has done the worst thing to Eva Smith in the events leading up to her suicide. Unknown to his family, Eric has been getting excessively drunk and has even progressed into an alcoholic. During his drunken act Eric raped Eva Smith and got her pregnant. His mother says it was the responsibility of the father of the child to help Eva, however when she finds out later on that Eric was the father of the child she feels that Eric could not be responsible for the girls pregnancy. Birling goes on at him about stealing the money and in comparison to what has happened he seems to feel that stealing is worse than rape. However, this only to protect his public image.
The quotation that
“we are responsible for each other”
is spoken by the inspector. He reminds the characters and the audience that there are always going to be problems in the world but if we don’t try to look after each other then things will get worse. We all have to learn things the hard way:
“in fire, in blood and in anguish”
if we do not change our selfish ways. He says that we are members of “one body” and that we have to be careful, because all of our actions have consequences. The inspector is a reminder that if we are all a little bit more compassionate then we might have a better world. We can’t be responsible for each other but we can be compassionate. Although as the character, the inspector is not significant as such; he is significant as a symbol. A symbol of change and compassion.
Priestley’s main aim in:
“An Inspector Calls”
are to write an entertaining play that will keep the audience on the edge of its seat. As a writer, his play has to be appealing in order to make his money however; he also had a social message to put across. As he was a political man he was concerned with social equality. Priestley’s play also has a political message telling people about change.
I consider the play to be successful in its intentions because it conveys a message to people that we need to change – even in today’s society. It is not only entertaining and keeps me in suspense to know what will happen to the Birling’s at the end of the play and whether or not they will catch the inspector; but it also in it’s own way tells us that we should try to be more compassionate people. I think Priestley has been successful in this play and brought out possibly the true meaning of life and people.