An Inspector Calls Free Essays

Though the girl subject to this as they find out ay not have actually died, this changes some Of the group’s views which results in a family backlash. However, if Eva Smith, Daisy Rent and the girl who came to the Brimley women’s council were all the same girl, and she subsequently died because of their actions, which character was the least responsible for her death? The first person to experience the effortless wrath of the inspector is Mr. Bribing, who is easily recognizable as the most stubborn of the lot. We will write a custom essay sample on An Inspector Calls or any similar topic only for you Order Now Instantly he tries to intimidate the inspector by rather cockily stating his past and present positions such as his time as Lord Mayor as well as his continued place on the Bench. Unlike many people Mr. Geol. stays calm and even emerges as the most dominate figure in the room almost immediately with ease. After Bribing notices this he begins to show a bit more intolerance or ‘impatience’ as it says in the stage directions. Mr. Burbling part in the death is effectively starting off a chain reaction. Eva was a worker in his factory at a time when the lower class were beginning to speak out about the cruelties of their lives and their work. The suffragettes were a growing voice since 1903 when they were formed. Trade unions were growing increasingly large with strikes happening thick and fast, with two years before being ebbed as ‘the great unrest’. Thus when the girl came asking for a couple shillings more a week she was instantly rejected along. After ‘a week or two’ on strike all the workers on strike were allowed to return apart from a few ringleaders, of course one of these was Miss Smith. I believe this makes him one of the least responsible as he followed the general course of action that almost every other factory owner would have at that time. Although many people would still highlight and abhor his complete lack of remorse he consistently shows throughout the play, showing no consideration to anyone rower down the ladder of class. This is proven almost every time he opens his mouth; statements such as ‘a man has to look after himself’ and ‘I still can’t accept any responsibility, with the latter coming just after he found out his part in it all. Even though it used to be him near the bottom. The next victim of the inspector is the sweet Sheila Bribing. As she only entered the room as Geol. was moving away from Brisling’s time in the spotlight she only learned little of the detail that had actually been disclosed. But still she showed great sorrow towards the tragedy. This builds up an image of Sheila that allows the audience to be much more forgiving when her role comes to light. When Mr. Geol. carries on his story telling we find out that Eva very fortunately takes advantage of the spreading influenza to grab a job at a high up the market clothes shop, Milliards. With secrecy he shows Sheila the photo of her and instantly its effect is evident, causing her to give ‘a half stifled sob’ and scatter out of the room. Her father while he may feel her actions are immature, takes this opportunity to have a much wanted dig at the informant. Once again attempting to make him feel uncomfortable and under pressure, this like before is unsuccessful. When Sheila re-enters the room it is explained that how she caused the girl to lose her job in a very UN-necessary manner. Wink very few people would see this as terrible and unforgiving, whereas most, like myself, would view this as provoked bad luck. Meaning we understand her errors but also believe the timing overlooks that. This is because as she puts it she was already in a ‘furious temper beforehand and adding to this it’s never pleasing to be proven wrong (especially by your mother). So Eva unluckily faced the brunt of Sheila’s own immaturity and momentary selfishness b y eyeing fired, leading her to go in search of a new life. Thirdly is Gerald. Though his part is much different to the rest as he didn’t affect her life for the worst. The inspector tells us how becoming Daisy Rent is Eve’s fresh start, but when hearing this name Gerald is clearly shocked. So much so that his fiancee begins quizzing him on her before he’s even admitted to anything. With only a visual answer she finds out how last summer when Mr. Croft was apparently too busy (with work) to spend much time with her, was actually a cover-up. Consequently turning Gerald from charming fiance to the audience’s villain. That nickname, however, does not last long. His actions towards her prove he has a lot more respect for the opposite sex then many people of his grade. More evidence is he tells us how it wasn’t intentional for her to end up his mistress nonetheless he did gracefully accept that it was inevitable. Most likely because she was young, ‘pretty’ and ‘warm-hearted’. Soon his friend was returning home and it had to end, but this time she left in a better place. Even though he was having an affair which enforces that he can’t respect women to a huge extent, it is still clear he did only have good intentions in his heart. Taking this into consideration I still think this makes him the least responsible as he did actually re-instate happiness into her increasingly torrid life. Next in the play but last in the real time events IS Mrs. Bribing. Ever since her introduction to the conversation (and often argument) she has been closed-mined like her husband but this completely opposite to their children. This is much in line with the common perception of the older ages and the younger ages. The older one being how they are Often stubborn, especially if they have been caught out or proven wrong, causing them to effuse themselves the ability to learn from they’re mistakes. Whereas Sheila and Eric accept and even exaggerate their responsibility which makes them the subject of patronizing from their parents, such as being told numerous times to ‘keep quiet’ and referring Sheila’s behavior as ‘like an hysterical child’. Mrs. Burbling faults were perhaps the most influential as she turned the UN-named girl away at by far the most important time. Eva pretending her name was Mrs. Bribing almost confirmed her fate. As older women of the time’s tendency to hold grudges was Omni-present here. The real Mrs. Bribing scribed this as ‘a piece of gross impertinence’, impertinence being possibly Sibyl’s favorite word to describe people she believes to be beneath her (which is almost everyone). This altogether gives no opportunity for anyone to speak positively about her in any manner. Sybil constantly adds to her already very pessimistic persona by egocentric comments throughout the play. After being proven guilty she comes out with ‘l accept no blame at all’, deliberately evading the truth like she continues to do for the rest of the play. She tries to make herself seem more innocent than everyone else – but in fact everything he says is based on her desire to avoid anything which is ‘offensive’ to her social sensibility. Her twisted morals and her missing compunction which led to an innocent girl’s death makes me believe she is more responsible for Eve’s death. Lastly Eric who is not all the man his parents believe him to be. As for 2 years he has been ‘steadily drinking’ unbeknown to his parents. Throughout the play he is shown as a weak, foolish, and thoughtless youth with his part in the loss of life coming down to character-flaws. Though at least it is clear he genuinely grief-stricken with the death as when he finds out his mother laded a huge role in the death he almost breaks down. Partly because it was the death of her own grandchild and partly because he is mortified by the fact she could have made a difference but chose not to. With Eric you can so nearly synthesis but his lack of responsibility ruins that. For example when he admits to stealing money to support Eva you can acknowledge the attempted act of kindness but then you have to condemn the cowardly way in which it was carried out. Regardless of this Rise penitence is to be respected, also his errors were not out of wickedness, but from his own attributes. How to cite An Inspector Calls, Papers An Inspector Calls Free Essays string(30) " she had become his mistress\." John Boynton Priestley was born in 1894 and died in 1984. He was famous for contemplating science, philosophy and writing many plays which displayed his Socialist views which advocates a socialist viewpoint since it is about caring for everyone and not just the wealthy. ‘An Inspector Calls’ is one of these. We will write a custom essay sample on An Inspector Calls or any similar topic only for you Order Now The play is about a wealthy upper-middle class family, the Birling’s, and how their views on living have changed since a visit from an Inspector. The main characters of ‘An Inspector Calls’ are the Birlings’, Inspector Goole, Gerald Croft and Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. The main characters in the play are: Arthur Birling is a successful businessman; his wife, Sybil, is very pretentious; and their unusual son, Eric, is an alcoholic. Eric’s sister, Sheila has recently got engaged to Gerald Croft, a gentleman of a slightly higher social class then the Birlings’; which makes the Birlings’ feel somewhat inferior. Society in 1912 was very appalling, poor people were outworked and underpaid and were treated as servants. The working class were victims of this and it was still hard for the middle class. It was only better for the upper class, the nobles and the factory workers. ‘You ought to like this port, Gerald. As a matter of fact, Finchey told me this is the port your father buys’. This shows us the family is high in society as in 1912, port was only available to those who had money to buy it, also it shows that Mr Birling is trying to flatter Gerald as he feels inferior Priestley uses the Birlings’ to show us that even if you’re rich you can still be wrong. Priestley is saying that people in society wasn’t always aware of the whole picture, normally the upper class. Rose-tinted glasses’ is what Priestley describes the Birlings’ as wearing; he is saying rich people only see what they want to see. Priestley wanted us to know each other and be members of one body, caring for one another and support each other as is the socialist views. Around the time the play was written, 87% of the country’s wealth belonged to only 5% of people, leaving 13% of the country’s wealth to 95% of people. This means that most of the world population were poor. Priestley uses lots of dramatic irony as, the audience know more then the actual characters on stage. For example, ‘Titanic †¦ forty-six thousand eight hundred tons†¦ five days †¦ unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’. Priestley uses this quote to show that Mr Birling is rich and thinks he knows everything. Here dramatic irony is used as we know that the Titanic sunk in 1912 which shows that what Mr Birling says is meant to be viewed as ludicrous. Also, Priestley uses Inspector Goole to expose weaknesses and wickedness of all the characters, whilst being interrogated by the Inspector, lots of lies were revealed and deceit was shown. Many of these characters are hypocritical and lie to themselves, by showing the personalities among the characters; Priestley also gets the audience to question their own behaviour and how they treat each other in society. Arthur Birling demonstrates weakness and wickedness. He shows iniquity as he treats Eva Smith/Daisy Renton very badly. Whilst Eva/Daisy was working for Birling, she asked for a higher pay, Birling said no then sacked her for going on a protest. ‘They were all rather restless, and suddenly they decided to ask for more money’. Birling sacked her for many reasons like being the leader of the protest. He refuses to believe that Eva/Daisy had a valid point and just fired her without a thought of the consequences. Birling is also a weak character. His weakness is power. Mr Birling’s narrow minded and assertive beliefs and his greed for money added to the death of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton as he used his power – his authority, class and wealth – to force Eva Smith to leave, making her redundant and unable to provide for herself. Mr Birling and the Inspector are always fighting for power. They are constantly interrupting each other, ‘Birling (cutting in) †¦ Inspector (cutting in, massively). Mr. Birling likes to think of himself as a hard-working, upper class citizen who does nothing wrong. However, we see throughout the play that he is very devious and arrogant. He does what he thinks is good work. He doesn’t help others but still expects of the knighthood. Sheila Birling is again both weak and wicked at times although she changes as she embraces. She is wicked because she got Eva Smith/Daisy Renton sacked from her job in Milwards. Sheila got Eva/Daisy sacked because she was trying something on and thought Eva/Daisy was laughing at her. I was looking at myself in the mirror I caught sight of her smiling at the assistant. I was furious with her’. Sheila lied to the manager that Eva/Daisy was impertinent. She believed Eva/Daisy wasn’t showing her the respect she deserved. Sheila also shows weakness, when she finds out that she could be involved with Eva/Daisy’s death, Sheila falls apart, ‘Sheila (almost breaking down) †¦ I’m desperately sorry’. When Sheila realises what she done could’ve made Eva/Daisy commit suicide, she feels so ashamed of it, ‘I behaved badly too. I know I did, I’m ashamed of it’. Another weakness of Sheila’s is that she is jealous of Eva/Daisy’s attractiveness because being jealous is something most people can admit to or we can all imagine being envious of someone, here Priestley is asking the audience to question their own actions more closely, would we have gone over the top and got Eva/Daisy sacked merely because she was in a bad mood caused by jealousy? Gerald Croft is the son of Sir George Croft of Croft’s Ltd, a competitor of Birling Co. At the night that the Inspector calls, Gerald Croft was celebrating his engagement to Sheila Birling. During he’s interrogation with the Inspector; it is revealed that Gerald had secretly known Eva Smith/Daisy Renton in which she had become his mistress. You read "An Inspector Calls" in category "Essay examples" Gerald stated that he was â€Å"the most important person in her life†, before ending their relationship. Sheila praises Gerald for his honesty and showing Eva/Daisy some sympathy, although he is shown as a gutless and inconsiderate man for taking advantage of a vulnerable woman. Gerald is a weak character. Gerald shows weakness and deceitfulness when he gives in and admits to having an affair with Eva/Daisy. Gerald knows that the affair was wrong as he told Sheila he was busy. ‘I’d been very busy at the works all that that time’. He also shows weakness by rescuing the Daisy when she was in trouble, when he ended the affair it left Eva Smith/Daisy Renton more distraught than when he first met her and probably felt used too. Gerald used and exploited Eva/Daisy. Gerald is engaged to Sheila Birling, a women of a class similar to his but has slept with Eva Smith/Daisy Renton, a women of the lower class. He just used her for sex and would never intend to date or marry Eva/Daisy. Mrs Birling, Sybil, shows weakness and wickedness. She shows wickedness as when Eva/Daisy got pregnant she went to a counselling meeting which Mrs. Birling worked at to get help, but she turned her down because she said her name was, Mrs Birling, and Sybil found this ‘a piece of gross impertinence-quite deliberate’. This can be seen at weakness. Mrs. Birling knew she had the power and used it in a wrong way. Eva/Daisy wanted help and because she used the name Mrs. Birling, the real Mrs. Birling turned her down and sent her away. The real Mrs. Birling is wrong and misunderstood because there are other people in world that have the same forenames and surnames. The fact that Eva/Daisy used the name Mrs Birling is because of the hypocrisy of the upper classes, she though it would give her a veneer of responsibility. Mrs. Birling is one of the honest characters; she admits she knew Eva/Daisy, turned her down, prejudiced against her and did nothing to help her. Bearing in mind, she doesn’t believe that she has done wrong. Her deceit is presented by her being two faced as she lies to herself. She says that ‘†¦ the father of the child who is responsible’, she also doesn’t want to believe that her son drove Eva/Daisy to suicide. Sybil is a snob. Someone who will set rules for herself and upper-middle class, but still deny the same rights for â€Å"girls of that sort† as she refers to Eva Smith. This shows that Mrs Birling had a hypocritical view about society. Eric Birling is obviously a weak character; he has a weakness for alcohol. He is an alcoholic who became deceitful about it because he hides it from his parents. Priestley uses a character like Eric as he says that we should be more aware and care for people that are most vulnerable, like Eric with his addiction. His parents ignore the fact that their son has a problem. Like Gerald, Eric met Eva/Daisy in The Palace bar. When he knew that she was going to have a baby and saw that she had no money, and stole from his family, to keep her stable. ‘She refused to take anymore†¦ ’. Another weakness that Eric has is that he believes his own mother kill his child and her grandchild. ‘(nearly at breaking point)†¦ – my child – your own grandchild†¦ ’ Eric is also wicked as he exploits Eva/Daisy and uses her for sex, something which he wouldn’t do to a girl of his social class. Priestley uses Inspector Goole as a tool; he is used to make each character realise what their responsibilities are and how they’ve had an impact on others, like Eva/Daisy. The Inspector is used as a dramatic device to represent the characters consciences; he uncovers all the lies and secret that they hide. The Inspector is a very clever person, he doesn’t give the person he’s interrogating all he knows, he drip feeds it to them and lets the characters have a chance to confess. Eva Smith/Daisy Renton is an unseen working class woman who the Inspector claims had committed suicide whilst she was pregnant with Eric Birling’s baby. She had been mistreated by each member of the Birling’s family and Gerald Croft. From what the characters have been saying, Eva/Daisy was a â€Å"pretty† woman with soft brown hair and big dark brown eyes. Gerald also confirms that Eva/Daisy had no family and must work to support herself. Each character had commented on Eva/Daisy’s beauty, it affects both Gerald and Eric. Eric sexually exploited her. Sheila commented unsympathetically on how Eva/Daisy looked when she tried on the dress that Sheila liked and looked better. It seemed that Sheila was threatened by Eva/Daisy’s beauty. Eva/Daisy is seen as a decorous woman as she refuses to accept the stolen money from Eric, despite her financial situation. Eva/Daisy appears to be a victim of her class, and is judged by the female characters for not acting appropriately for her class. Sheila imagines that Eva laughed at her and did not act respectfully towards her and so punishes her by having her fired. Sybil also disapproves of Eva for appearing proud and for being â€Å"impertinent† rather than being humble and grateful to her. Eva Smith/Daisy Renton is a weak and possibly the weakest character because she is in a weak position where she needs help whereas the other characters al use and exploits her revealing their wicked side. Priestley uses a range of ages to show how each generation react to what they have done. It’s funny because the elder generation don’t accept that they were part of Eva/Daisy’s death, whereas the younger ones do. Nearer the end of the play, the Inspector last speech could encourage the characters and the audience, how to live the rest of their life. Would they finish it caring for one another, like the message of the play is or carry on living like the Birling’s were, not caring for anyone but themselves. Basically, Priestley wrote this play to show ‘we are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. This is part of the last speech that the Inspector informed the Birlings’. This reveals his socialist views and asks us to turn against the capitalist viewpoint which is about profit rather than people. In conclusion to the play, I think that all the characters except for Eva/Daisy are the wicked characters of the play. They have all contributed to Eva/Daisy’s death and have used their power and this led her to her death. In this play the weakest character is Eva/Daisy as she is in a weak position and all of the other characters used and exploited her. How to cite An Inspector Calls, Essay examples