In this peice of work I stated that I was going to answer the course work question by considering who is the most responsible of Eva Smith death?. I'll be investigating the characters by who I believe is the most responsible to the least.
In the play "An Inspector Calls" in Act Three, the Inspector tells the Birling family "The girl killed herself and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it". I will now examine each character in turn to assess each person's responsibility for the death of Eva Smith. I have used source material from a copy of the play. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. .
Firstly, it must be remembered that the Birling Family are guilty of no actual crime, besides all have contributed to the downfall of a particular person becaues of their particular attitudes and beliefs. So that it could be said that Eva Smith was simply a victim of her class and time. The idea of the play and particularly the role of the inspector is to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not an actual or legal one. This point is very noticeable and is the basis of the entire play, to grasp it is important for understanding of the play, without this, an analysis of who is responsible would be more difficult.
BIRLING:.
I will begin by discussing the role in which Arthur Birling has played in the demise of Eva Smith. Arthur Birling is a self-made man who has built Birling And Company into a successful local business. As the play opens he is celebrating the engagement of his daughter to Gerald Croft, the son of his main business rival in Bromley, Sir George Croft. The marriage suits him and should greatly aid him financially as he believes a merger of the two companies might not be too far off. .
When the inspector begins to question him, Birling denies any knowledge of the girl, although when presented with a photograph, remembers, "She was one of my employees and then I discharged her".
