Preview

How Is Responsibility Presented in an Inspector Calls

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1076 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Is Responsibility Presented in an Inspector Calls
The older generation can be exemplified through Mrs Birling, Mrs Birling and Gerald, their attitudes revolve around protecting their own social status whereby do not seem to care for anyone but themselves and their family, this can be recognised when the Inspector reveals all about Eva Smith, and their reaction to this awful death, even though they are involved, seems to be non-existent, through evidence from the inspector, they still persist that they haven 't participated to this death. They are completely unsympathetic towards the girl and take no responsibility for their actions as their domineering behaviour makes them feel as if they have done nothing wrong this can be shown when Mrs Birling states “I think she had only herself to blame.” by stating this she reiterates to the Inspector that she feels she has no involvement in the death, by stating 'only herself to blame ' in relevance to Eva’s death is very cruel and self-centred, as she is clearly trying to revert back to it being Eva 's fault therefore diminishing herself and her family out of the equation even though she can be considered to play a large part in her death.

As they are higher class than this girl they also feel as though the death is less important, as Mrs Birling states 'Girls of that class -” this demonstrates that she was prejudice towards the girl whereby due to her class and her position (getting pregnant and not being married) she was therefore not eligible to deserve any money from the charity, this can also be reiterated from when she states “I 'm Mrs Birling, know” by patronising the Inspector she 's reminding him of her status, showing him that she should not have an involvement because she is of a higher class than him she therefore feels she doesn 't have to take any responsibility, due to her class. Her belittling the Inspector makes her think that she will be able to play no part in the death even though her actions have led to this, she cannot accept any responsibility

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mrs Birling was the final person who had the chance to give Eva Smith help as she was the last person to see her alive. This means she was the final person to possibly give her help which in no case proves her to be the one to blame it wasn't her 'who had her turned out of her employment which probable began it all.' Eva Smith came to her right before her death ,when she was most desperate, with the name Miss Birling. This 'was naturally one of the things that prejudiced' Mrs Birling about the case because she was most probably ashamed to be linked in with a lower class person and might of felt embaressed with the other members of the charity. This however due to the fact Eva was pregnant left her with not many choices. Mrs Birling however didn't seem to care stating 'In these circumstances I think I was perfectly justified' she never actually admits to anything as she 'did nothing to be ashamed of.' However she does seem very stresses during the exchange which may show a bit of guilty under tone when she snaps at her husband 'Please remember before you start accusing me of anything that it wasn't me who had her turned out of her employment...' This is not a way she would normally talk to her husband during this time and might indicate a small amount of guilt as she didn't want to take responsibility as she can see she might have been in the wrong. One slight difference however when Mrs Birling was being…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Priestley’s portrays Mrs Birling as a snobbish, cold-hearted and unsympathetic woman but she pretends to be sympathetic towards Eva Smiths’ death. Yet she was the one who worked in the women’s charity organisation and refused to help her in the first place - highlighting her harsh and uncaring nature. Also, Mrs Birling feigns to be oblivious towards her son’s drinking and pretends that she is an eloquent, sophisticated and well-mannered woman.nevertheless; the way she behaves to inspector Goole is one of rudeness, disrespect and impertinence.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inspector Calls Summary

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Birling family was having celebratory dinner on Sheila(the daughter of Arthur Birling) and Gerald(an aristocrat) while discussing the progress of Arthur Birling’s business and the events that has happened in 1912. Then an Inspector enters the scene and starts questioning the Birling family over the suicide of a pretty girl named “Eva”. During the course of the questioning it is revealed that Sheila and Mr Birling had contributed to the death of Eva Smith(“pretty girl”)…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When talking about Eva Smith, she says, ‘Girls of that class – ’. The word ‘that’ suggests that she prefers to detach herself from anyone who belongs to a class lower than her own. This attitude explains her complete disgust when Eva Smith introduces herself as “Mrs Birling”, an act which Mrs Birling identifies as “a piece of gross impertinence” (pg.45) . Hearing Eva Smith identify herself as a Mrs Birling shocked her so much that she hadn’t considered why Eva would have done that. Her admitted prejudice took over any rational thinking.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    J.B Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on 13th September 1894. He firm believer of socialism which is a political theory or system in which the means of production and distribution are controlled by the people therefore he disagrees firmly with capitalism. Priestley set his play in 1912 because the date symbolized an period when all was very unusual from the time he was writing. In 1912, inflexible class and gender restrictions seemed to guarantee that nothing would change. However by 1945 the majority of class and gender divisions had been infringed. Priestley wanted to make the most of these changes. The Inspector wants to teach the Birling Family to care about other and not only themselves and he wants to show that social status and wealth are not significant factors. One of Priestley’s major concerns was that even that the war has ended people were living in poverty and living depressed lives. I think that J.B Priestley is trying to tell people that they shouldn’t rejoice after the war because several people have been killed. Priestley shows that there shouldn’t be a division between people of different class. In 1912 the Birling family lead a comfortable life Birling is a prime example of a capitalist, J.B Priestley is keen to highlight the selfishness of him in the play. J.B Priestley wanted to highlight what was right and wrong in society as it is a morality play .In this essay I am going to investigate how J.B Priestley uses dramatic devices to intrigue the audience.…

    • 820 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The older generation, for example, is very keen to forgive themselves and forget what happen in their dealings with Eva Smith, which is where their traits are demonstrated. We learn that Mrs Birling is very judgemental and haughty, and both she and her husband have a sense of social superiority about them. They both fail to learn anything from their experiences because they are so set in their ways, ways which Birling voiced at the start of the play during his speech, where he told them all to forget about “community and all that nonsense” and “make their own way”, and even after the inspector has called and exposes what each of them has done, the older generation still feel the need to cling to this way of life, and rebuild the wall that the inspector has previously knocked down. We also find that the older generation are not just forgetting what the inspector has said, but they are also forgetting some of the things they did themselves – they seem to be misremembering what happened to suit themselves – and Mrs Birling is a good example of this when she says “he certainly didn’t make me confess – as you call it. I told him quite plainly that I thought I had done no more than my duty”, which we know didn’t actually happen, and that she is making things up and selectively remembering things to make herself look…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Birling decides that rather than feeling sorry for the girl, the more important issue for him is to cover up what's happened in case it affects the possibility of him getting his knighthood in a couple of weeks. Show in the quote ‘I've got to cover this up as soon as I can.’ He thinks that her death will affect how society will view him if the news gets out that he has had a part in her death. Throughout the drama, Mr. Birling is portrayed as selfish and thinking solely of his own reputation. When it is discovered at the end of the play that the inspector might not be real, and that Eva might not have died, Mr. Birling’s immediate reaction is to exclaim ’…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birlings are a family of wealth and power, who take pride in their high social position. Mr. Birling is a successful businessman, and the family inhabits a nice home with a maid (and likely other servants). The play begins with the family celebrating and feeling generally pleased with themselves and their fortunate circumstance. Throughout the Inspector’s investigation, however, it comes out that several of the Birlings have used their power and influence immorally, in disempowering and worsening the position of a girl from a lower class: Mr. Birling used his high professional position to force Eva Smith out of his factory when she led a faction of workers in demanding a raise; Sheila, in a bad temper, used her social status and her family’s…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mrs Birling creates more of a negative force around Sheila by saying, ‘It would be much better if Sheila didn’t listen to this story at all.’ I say this because she is ‘supposed to be engaged to the hero of it.’ The quote from Mrs Birling, that I have given, is followed from the quote by Sheila, which I have also provided. This shows that Sheila is being aggravated by the rest of the family as they are all suggesting she isn’t there to hear the rest of the conversation between the family, Gerald and the inspector.With close reference to the extract, show how Priestly creates mood and atmosphere for an audience.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sheila Birling Changes

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An Inspector Calls is a definitive play written by J.B Priestley. It explores the many themes that wove through society before the first world war, such lack of social responsibility, social disparity between different classes and the gap of understanding and contemplating between the two dissimilar generations – the young and the old. In this essay, I will be exploring the character Sheila Birling and how and why does she change in the play, in response to the Inspector and to her family.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs Birling is Mr Birling’s social superior (Priestley tells us this in the stage directions) and we see that when Mrs Birling tells Mr Birling off when he said that the food was good in front of Gerald, as upper class families do not address their help. This tells us that Mrs Birling takes social etiquette very seriously- believing that a good reputation will improve her family’s status. It also tells us that even though Mr Birling is head of the household, Mrs Birling’s social background makes her the one in control of the marriage- just like Gerald. Also when Mrs Birling talks about marriage, stating that, “When you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.” Priestley makes Mrs Birling consider marriage like it’s more of a…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    inspector calls

    • 990 Words
    • 3 Pages

    From the outset, Priestley uses Mrs Birling’s persona to create an unlikeable character, a woman who is described as ‘cold’ in the stage directions, displaying the attitudes she will show in the opening scene. Her attitude to class is shown by her cynical comment – ‘a girl of that class’ – a comment which implies her awareness of her social superiority. This shows the way in which she looks down upon the character of Eva Smith. Similarly, her dismissive attitude towards lower class people is demonstrated by her careful concern for social etiquette and manners. She shows disgust at Sheila’s use of colloquial language, for instance, when Sheila refers to Eric as ‘squiffy’, Mrs Birling is seemingly outraged. This suggests that she would not want to be associated with the dialect used by those of a lower social status. Her character is shown to feel a need to impress Gerald due to his upper class heritage and parenting. This could be represented by her embarrassment when Mr Birling congratulates the cook and tells him off for discussing business. This indicates that she doesn’t want Gerald to get the impression that she or her family would act in such a way.…

    • 990 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Act 1, Priestley uses the character of Inspector Goole to arrive unexpectedly at the Birlings household and not only shatter the very foundations of their lives but challenge us all to examine our senses of right and wrong. His use of the Inspector opens the door to explore responsibility in this play as he one by one challenges them to reveal their guilt. I think that the idea of the play and particularly the role of the Inspector are to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. Therefore it could be said that Eva Smith was simply a victim of her class and time. This point is very significant and is the basis of the entire play, to grasp it is imperative to the understanding of the play, without this, an analysis of responsibility would be far more difficult.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As soon as they meet in act one, Birling attempts to show his social superiority to the Inspector, boasting about his contacts in the police force, this shows Birlings character and the type of person he is, big headed and boastfull. Within the play Mr and Mrs Birling seems to be the only characters that are unable to accept the fact that they helped in the death of eva smith. In contrast to Mr and Mrs Birling Sheila has total opposite views and realises what she did was wrong, and wishes that she could go back and never get Eva sacked-…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sheila Biriling

    • 1038 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Arguably, Priestley uses Sheila Birling as a vehicle to explore a diverse range of ideas, from the issue of gender roles and stereotypes through the idea of socialism and the need of shared responsibility with which Priestley himself occupied. Sheila can be seen as a representation of people changing their attitude and approaches through mistakes. Priestley seems to use her to encourage people to change and not to stepping back into the period before the world war happened where people only cares about themselves and ignores social responsibility. The ways in which Sheila accepts responsibility and urges the other characters int the play change their way and learn from their experiences with the inspector can be sen as a message behind from Priestley to the audience not to let the lessons learnt from the second world war be forgotten.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays