J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" examines social responsibility through the story of Eva Smith's death. Each member of the upper-class Birling family contributed in some way to Eva's downward spiral, whether it was Mr. Birling firing her, Sheila firing her from another job, Eric impregnating and abandoning her, or Gerald having an affair with her. By the end, the family realizes how their individual actions impacted Eva's life but Mr. Birling refuses to accept responsibility. The play leaves the audience contemplating their own social responsibilities.

1. J.B. Priestley’s, “An Inspector Calls” is a mysterious play which deals with the theme of
social responsibility. Each member of the Birling family is partly responsible for the
death of Eva Smith. Audiences may disagree who is most to blame.
The play is set in a small town called Brumley during the spring of 1912, based
around the upper class Birling family. As they sit down for a meal to celebrate their
daughter’s engagement, and inspector interrupts, bringing news that a local girl named
Eva Smith has committed suicide. Each member of the family has a different reaction
towards this: some surprised, some are dismissive. In a surprising twist, Gerald finds out
the inspector is not a real police inspector, and the play ends with the Birling family
receiving a call saying a young girl has just committed suicide.
Mr Birling is a very snobby man who judges others. He is big-headed, which is
shown through his bragging proudly about his knighthood and being a mayor. We see
this when Mr Birling says:
“You see, I was Lord Mayor here two years ago when royalty visited us.”
Priestley uses “Lord Mayor” and “royalty”, to expose Mr Birling’s proud side, that he is
part of the upper class. Priestley also uses them in such a way that they are emphasises,
just to give the extra effect of how egotistical Mr Birling is.
Mr Birling is very old-fashioned as he treats woman as the minority. He is partly
responsible for the death of Eva, as he fires her from his business, as the result of her
going on strike. He is portrayed as the catalyst, and got the barrel rolling for her series of
unfortunate events. He is not sorry for what he has done, because he is greedy and self-
important, so does not care about others:
“There is every excuse for what both your mother and I did – it turned out unfortunately,
that’s all -”
This quote shoes Mr Birling’s lack of remorse. Priestley uses the word “excuse”, as if Mr
Birling is making up a reason on the spot as to why he should not be blamed. He is so
used to being right and getting what he wants, they he will not have it any differently.
Sheila Birling is a very spoilt young woman as receives everything she wants. She
is also very confident and bossy, which is shown through her first section of dialogue:
“Gerald: The Governor prides himself on being a good judge of port. I don’t pretend to
know much about it.
Sheila: I should jolly well think not, Gerald.”
This reveals Sheila’s bossy side, which contrasts with the innocent youngest child
character we are presented with through the introduction. All of these characteristics are
exposed again when Sheila fires Eva from her second job in the family’s favourite shop,
because Eva looks better in a dress than Sheila does. This resulted in Eva being
unemployed with no income. Sheila feels very guilty and is regretful of her own actions.
We see this when she says:
“I feel rotten about it at the time, but now I feel a lot worse.”

2. The word choice of “rotten” and “worse” suggests how guilty Sheila feels and if she
knew what result it has, she would not have done it.
Eric Birling is very spoilt and ungrateful as well, as he misuses his family’s
money. Eric is very immature, for the reason that he goes out drinking and miss behaves
in public. In addition, he can be very selfish which is recognised when he uses Eva:
“And that’s when it happened. I didn’t even remember – that’s the hellish thing.”
The word choice of “hellish” implies that it was a very unpleasant and difficult feeling
for Eric, and it is the worst part of the whole experience. He has been drinking,
impregnated Eva, and then left her without caring about her feelings. This also
contributes to why Eva ended her life, as being with-child would be another weight on
shoulders.
Gerald Croft is from a very high class background and is marrying in to the
Birling family. He is found out to have been having an affair with Eva, while telling
Sheila he was busy at the works:
“I wasn’t telling you a complete lie when I said I’d been very busy at the works all that
time. But of course I did see a good deal of her,”
This is an example of Gerald being disloyal, showing what he can really be like. The
word choice of “of course” indicates it’s obvious he had been having an affair, and that it
should be clear to Sheila. I personally feel Gerald is not responsible for part of Eva’s
death, but just another chapter in her life.
Priestley explores the themes of social responsibility very well, through the
characters, making the audience think about their actions and what consequences they
could have on others. Personally I feel Mr Birling is most to blame, because if he had not
fired Eva, she would not have been put in any of the following difficult situations. Sheila
and Eric have learnt the most from this experience, as they are both aware of the
consequences their actions can have. In contrast to Sheila and Eric regretting their
actions, Mr Birling remains the same big-headed man he was, and still believes he can do
nothing wrong.