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Text: An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly Productions seen: BBC Television Production (1981) Film Production (1954) Part I J. B.
Priestly's play is set in the spring of 1912 in the household of an upper-middle class family in the north of England. The plot of this dramatic play is based around the Birling family's involvement in a young girl's suicide. The Birling family consists of the two parents, Arthur and Sybil Birling and their two children Eric and Sheila. Gerald Croft is soon to become a member of the family as he has recently announced his engagement to Sheila. As the story unfolds we find that each of the family members is partly to blame. Which member however carries the most blame?
It is important to realise that J. B. Priestly has made it deliberately difficult to place the blame solely on one person. Having read the play and seen two productions of it, I have come to the conclusion that Mrs Birling is the most to blame.
This conclusion was founded for many reasons. One such reason was due to the process of elimination. Each Character, although guilty, has different responsibilities and different degrees of blame due to their involvement with the girl, their reaction to the news of her death, how they compare to the other characters and how the audience would or should perceive them. If we first take Mr Birling, who is questioned by the Inspector first.
Mr Birling is described by Priestly as 'heavy looking, rather portentous... in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners... rather provincial in his speech. " Birling is fairly successful in his line of work and is always striving to become better. He is self-important and slightly pompous.
He could even be described as old fashioned. However he is a warm character and the audience should perceive him as such. Examples of this self importance can be found a lot in the text. For example, on page seven of the text, Mr Birling rambles on about such nonsense like " The unsinkable Titanic", "very little chance of a World War" and of "Russia being technically and socially behind" Mr Birling first became acquainted with Eva Smith when she came to work in his factory two years previously. Mr Birling started off the chain of events which lead to Eva's death by firing her from her job for asking for a pay-rise and (when the rise was refused) for organising a strike. Although Mr Birling shows relatively little guilt or remorse for Eva's death, I do not feel that he is entirely responsible as at the end of the play he does in fact feel very guilty when the Inspector delivers his final speech.
He says, " Look Inspector-I'd give thousands-yes thousands... " indicating that he did in fact begin to accept some of the blame. Also he did behave as many other employers of that time would have done. Money in this era was a precious thing and if an employer spotted what he saw as a trouble-maker who could cause him loss of profits he would do his utmost to get rid of the problem. Sheila Birling is questioned next by the Inspector. Sheila is the daughter of the family and is described as, " a pretty girl in her early twenties... pleased about life...
excited" The audience could see her as a sweet lively young girl who appreciates life in her little bubble that is the house and lifestyle which surrounds her. This makes her quite naive and immature. Sheila first became acquainted with Ms Smith when Eva received a job at Milwards, a well known department store. Sheila and her mother made purchases at this store frequently. Eva worked as a sales assistant at this store and Sheila got Eva fired when she lost her temper at her for smiling at her in a way which she found offensive. Sheila could be compared to her father as she too helped to cause Eva's death by getting her sacked from her job but here the similarities end.
Upon hearing of Ms Smith's death, Sheila feels immediately responsible and wishes to take on all of the blame. As she feels so guilty when in fact she did relatively little, I believe that Sheila is not solely to blame. She also continues to feel guilty after learning that there was not an Eva Smith. She still feels that her acts were immoral and that they should not have done everything which they had done as it may have affected someone else.
Gerald is the next character to be interrogated by the Inspector. Gerald is a calm and sensible person, favoured very much by Mr and Mrs Birling and although a few years his senior, liked by Eric also. The audience should see him as a self-assured, well mannered man who is constantly at ease with the world and generally a 'nice ' person. His involvement with Eva Smith or as she is now known, Daisy Renton, started out very honourably. His tale starts in a bar where he spots Eva/Daisy being cornered by a drunken Alderman Meggarty. He then learns of her homelessness and offers a flat for her to live in for the moment.
He gave Eva/Daisy everything which she craved for at that point in her life, a home, food, money and the thing which she craved most of all; companionship. She soon became his mistress but Gerald broke it off and did not see her again. Although Gerald could be seen as a user, stringing her along as long as he needed her, he did provide her with some happiness for a long time, something which she had not had for a long time. He felt genuinely upset at the news of Daisy's death, he was so affected that he had to leave the room. As he cared for her and felt guilty when he knew who she was I feel that Gerald is only partly to blame. He is...
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