...which have structured the play since the Inspector’s arrival (in order: Birling, Sheila, Gerald, Mrs. Birling, Eric). Each of the Birlings has played a part in Eva Smith’s death, and each of them must take part of the responsibility for what happened to her and for her final, sad choice. This motif, as well as the structure of the play and of Eva Smith’s life (though, to get the order of events right, Mrs. Birling was the last, not the penultimate, character to affect Eva in reality), points to two of Priestley’s key themes: the interrelationship of cause and effect and, more generally, the nature of time. The “chain of events” that the Inspector outlined as leading to Eva Smith’s death in Act One is a key idea in the play. The chain of personal and social events is not simply a metaphor for the way the class system holds people like “Eva Smiths and John Smiths” firmly in their subservient positions in society, but it is also a neat encapsulation of the Inspector’s key moral: that everyone, contrary to what Birling explains, is indeed bound up with everyone else “like bees in a hive.” As much as we like to think of ourselves as individuals, we are also social beings. The Birlings and Gerald Croft are chained together by Eva Smith’s death. Birling sets off the chain which makes possible Sheila’s bad deed against Eva, which in turn throws Eva into the path of Gerald and then Eric and, finally, in front of Mrs. Birling’s committee. Each deed is tied to the deed before it and the...
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...different characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’ and their contributions to the death of Eva Smith before concluding who I feel is to blame the most. Arthur Birling is first to be questioned by the Inspector, at first he does not recognise the girl’s name but after seeing her picture he realises that she was a young girl that once worked as a labourer in his company. He claims that he fired this girl for asking for higher wages. He displays a lack of empathy and understanding for the life of the lower class by adding to the end of his anecdote: ‘I refused- of course.’ This quote shows how he clearly thinks the notion of asking for a raise in pay is so preposterous that it is not worth talking about and this is confirmed by his shock when the inspector enquires why he refused this pay rise. There is an obvious ignorance about Arthur Birling, he seems to think he has great knowledge, as shown in the way he talks with his family in his speech at the beginning, which is laced with self-importance. Yet he displays very little insight in to how difficult it was for a girl living on such little income. He expresses how he does not need the help of the girl and he says ‘they could go work somewhere else, it’s a free country’ but his son, Eric shows a more realistic view that it isn’t a free country ‘if you can’t go and work somewhere else’ which Birling immediately dismisses. Birling’s decision to fire Eva Smith showcases how he was very quick not to consider how her life may be affected...
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...social class. Class is a large factor, indirectly, in the events of the play and Eva Smith’s death. Mrs. Birling, Priestley notes, is her husband’s social superior, just as Gerald will be Sheila’s social superior if they do get married. Priestley also subtly notes that Gerald’s mother, Lady Croft, disapproves of Gerald’s marrying Sheila for precisely this reason. Finally, everyone’s treatment of Eva might be put down (either in part or altogether) to the fact that she is a girl, as Mrs Birling puts it, “of that class.” Priestley himself clearly was interested in the class system and how it determines the decisions that people make. This is further exemplified by the positioning of the family at the table in the main hall the stage directions say “the four Birling’s and Gerald are sat at the table, with Arthur Birling at one end , his wife at the other , Eric downstage ,and Sheila and Gerald upstage.” One of the many points this expresses is the distance between Mr Birling and his own wife. This could be because he is constantly thinking about both his business growth and Sheila marrying Gerald. A reason for Eric being positioned ‘downstage’ is so that Priestley can show how neglected Eric actually is within the family , as he is either near his father nor Mother. Also it is too show how minimum influence he has in the family even though he is at the start of Adulthood this is more proof of how the Birling Parents seem alarmed at the revelation of all Eric’s activities because they...
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...experiences of the family of a wealthy, influential and ambitious industrialist, Arthur Birling. To understand the significance of the key scene and its relationship to the theme we must first set the scene in context. The stage directions at the beginning of the play describe the Birlings as ‘pleased with themselves’. At first sight they have good reason to be: Arthur Birling is expecting to be knighted in the next honours list and his daughter, Sheila, is engaged to be married to the son of another wealthy and titled industrialist. This appeals not only to Mr Birling’s social class aspirations, but also to his capitalist values of ‘lower costs and higher profits’ through a potential merger. The key scene occurs as Mr Birling is lecturing his son, Eric, and future son-in- law, Gerald on the nature of society: . . .a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own. His point of view is self- centred and entirely the opposite of the responsibility Priestley wishes his audience to adopt. As Mr Birling utters these words the Inspector of the title calls to show the Birlings that this attitude is both wrong and immoral. The mysterious Inspector investigates the consciences of each of the Birlings and Gerald to show them how their thoughtless actions affect others. He reveals their apparent involvement in events leading to the suicide of a girl called Eva Smith. The revelations divide the family as the older generation remain entrenched in...
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...example, Mrs Birling assumes that Eric and his sister are tired because he is apart of the younger generation although he is old enough to be responsible for his actions. In Act Three the Inspector questions Eric, and when the truth comes out about Eric’s role of Eva Smith’s death he acts as if their relationship was brief and the fact that she became pregnant seemed a childish game by describing her as a 'a good sport'. He does, however, offer her money but Eva declined his offer when she found out the money had been stolen from his fathers factory which tells us although she had little in life she was not prepared to take things from other people. Despite being one of two characters who tries to help Eva, the other guests turn on Eric, even his father-'You're the one I blame for this’. Eric was shocked that the household hadn’t absorbed the message communicated to them by the inexplicable Inspector Goole as himself and Sheila were not so easily swayed towards Mr Birling, Mrs Birling and Gerald’s theory as they still should feel responsible for the disastrous incidents that escalated from a chain of events for this girl to end her life. Eric learned from the experience - 'It's what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters.’ Even though they weren’t certain that the girl had actually died a layer of maturity grew upon him towards the end of the book. 2. What relevance has the Inspector’s final warning in his last speech to the story of Eva Smith? ...
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...Arthur Birling Husband of Sybil, father of Sheila and Eric. Priestley describes him as a "heavy-looking man" in his mid-fifties, with easy manners but "rather provincial in his speech." He is the owner of Birling and Company, some sort of factory business which employs several girls to work on (presumably sewing) machines. He is a Magistrate and, two years ago, was Lord Mayor of Brumley. He thus is a man of some standing in the town. He describes himself as a "hard-headed practical man of business," and he is firmly capitalist, even right-wing, in his political views. Gerald Croft Engaged to be married to Sheila. His parents, Sir George and Lady Croft, are above the Birlings socially, and it seems his mother disapproves of his engagement to Sheila. He is, Priestley says, "an attractive chap about thirty ... very much the easy well-bred young-man-about-town." He works for his father's company, Crofts Limited, which seems to be both bigger and older than Birling and Company. Sheila Birling Engaged to be married to Gerald. Daughter of Arthur Birling and Sybil Birling, and sister of Eric. Priestley describes her as "a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited," which is precisely how she comes across in the first act of the play. In the second and third acts, however, following the realization of the part she has played in Eva Smith's life, she matures and comes to realize the importance of the Inspector's message. Sybil Birling Married to Arthur...
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...presence and also show his intention in coming to the Birling household. I am also going to express whether I think, in the play, the inspector is supposed to be a real person or something other. When exploring the effects that the inspector has on the other characters I will describe the characters personalities and characteristics before the inspector arrives, and then after, once the moral has been introduced, to then find out whether they have engaged in becoming a better person or not. The social and historical perspective of the play is very important as it was written in 1945 and set in 1912. There are lots of events that happened between those times that the audience would have known at the time. Most of these are mentioned by the deluded Mr Birling, who says facts that the audience know not to be true, but he says them in such a confident, superior manner that it makes the audience dislike him. He says things such as “just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and begin talking nonsense. The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war, except some half-civilised folk in the Balkans. And why? There’s too much at stake these days. Everything to lose, and nothing to gain by war”. Even when Eric, who is a lot more sensible than his father and sees things the way they are, and not like he wants them to be, interrupts and says “ Yes, I know- but still-” Mr Birling just says “ just let me finish, Eric. You’ve got a lot...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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