... peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere-" showing that he believes that the, "silly little war scares" are nothing to go by. Birling fires Eva Smith because she asks for a raise. He felt that she was a troublemaker and that it was his duty, "to keep labour costs down." This explains ... to the audience that Mr Birling is a very self involved man and doesn't see Eva Smith as a person, but as an, "added twelve per cent." When everyone had been exposed, Mr Birling didn't grasp that fact that he was partly ... "But how do we know it's the same girl?" which shows that he is tryin...

• Word Count: 1260
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 ... 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 op...

• Word Count: 1941
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... to be most prone to accept responsibility then Sheila would have the majority of the vote. Whereas when asked who the most responsible for Eva Smith's death was, there are numerous different points of views regarding whether or not all or one single character was the most responsible, or guilty ... Birling, having fired her, made her alone, homeless, unemployed until she applied for a job at Milwards, a clothing store, where she was accepted. Eva Smith was always liked at Milwards by both customers and fellow employees, which was why it was surprising that she was fired because of a fil...

• Word Count: 1827
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... were averaging around twenty-two and six and the workers wanted around twenty-five shillings a week.. Mr Birling did not accept these rates and therefore sacked Eva Smith who was one of the ringleaders of this strike. Mr Birling told the other workers the rates would not go high and if they wanted to leave the ... place they should do so. This was the first of many events that drove Eva Smith to committing suicide. Obviously, when the Inspector question Mr Birling, he defended himself and said he did nothing wrong. You can see this in many places ... . It was a new start for Eva. She cou...

• Word Count: 2092
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... Calls' is a well made play with both the characters and audience progressing from ignorance to knowledge as they learn more about what has happened to Eva Smith. The Inspector starts by interrogating the main man of the family, Arthur Birling, and then goes on to follow the story of each person one at ... minimal interruptions. Each turn of events is described and pulled apart by the Inspector, slowly building up the story of what happened to Eva Smith and who caused her to commit suicide. However the excitement and suspense is not over when the Inspector leaves, with the unexpected phone...

• Word Count: 2403
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... Birling, thought quite complacently that they had never had things so good. Priestlys characters are involved with the social conditions of the time, Eva Smith is just one of the characters that is such a vivid example of the fate of many young women shrouded in an atmosphere of poverty. ... on your class. The rich and famous exploited the poor, they lived a much happier life with more social benefits than say the likes of Eva Smith. The Birlings (ruling class) are prosperous and live in a fairly large comfortable house "with good solid furniture" but then a few miles down the ... it tra...

• Word Count: 2117
• Approx Pages: 8

... elegant engagement dinner party of Gerald Croft and Sheila Birling, to question the Birling family about the suicide of a young working-class girl called Eva Smith. There are many plot twists which work well with the characters. The family is set as a typical middle-upper-class household where class distinctions are ... good job of making the family of Mr. Birling, a rich factory owner and self-centered capitalist; feel very guilty for assisting the death of Eva-Smith (also known as Daisy Renton). But moral guilt is not the major issue in this play. The major issue is how class-aware Br...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... who is later sucked from a job by Mr. Birling's daughter Sheila because she was jealous of the girl's beauty. The same girl changes her name from Eva Smith to Daisy Renton after she has an affair with Sheila's fiancé Gerald Croft, all summer. After Gerald dumps her, she has an affair with Eric Birling, Mr ... After he has left they discovered that he wasn't a real inspector and that no girl has committed suicide. Just as they are trying to forget about Eva Smith and the Inspector Goole, they receive a phone call informing them of a girl who has committed suicide and that an inspector wa...

• Word Count: 1459
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... their class and their wealth. For example, when he questioned Sheila he first of all made her feel terrible by telling her she was the cause of Eva Smith loosing her job, and second he said that she was able to do this because she was a wealthy high classed woman. This is the actual text from ... I would describe her as being rather cold, and she is very conscious of her superiority. She believes that she was not involved in the death of Eva Smith and does not approve of the Inspector's visit. Her response to the Inspector is very straight forward. She wants him to leave and she feels tha...

• Word Count: 1848
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... have stayed like this throughout the rest of the play. At the end of act two the family finds out that it was Eric who made Eva Smith pregnant before her death. Right at the end of act two Eric enters the room with everyone staring at him. The act ends and the curtain goes ... words are "you don't know do you?" At this time the audience would be holding their breath, wanting to find out exactly how Eric was involved in Eva Smith's life. At this point there may have been a spotlight on Eric and the audience would all be watching him, waiting for him to say something. As ... they should le...

• Word Count: 1261
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... he knows exactly what he is looking for and exactly where to look for his answers. He shows Mr Birling a photograph of a young girl names Eva Smith that committed suicide, the inspector did not let anyone else see this picture. Eric says, "Any particular reason why I shouldn't be allowed to see this photo ... me in to ask why you didn't come along to the drawing room?" Sheila is then informed on what has happened, about a young girl named Eva Smith, committed suicide, that she was fired from her fathers firm. Sheila's in shock she could not understand what would poses girl to end her lif...

• Word Count: 1442
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of the Birling family and Gerald Croft have been established, the "mysterious" inspector arrives with the news of the suicide of a girl named Eva Smith. The audience's interest is sustained not only by the surprise involvement of each of the characters but also to find out "who" ultimately drove Eva ... making, represented by the Titanic (which sinks on its maiden voyage). This is most effective to show the pomposity of Birling's social class. Eva Smith represents the working class. She is time and again, downtrodden. i.e. Mr. Birling throws her out of her job when she needed it. Gerald ...

• Word Count: 1550
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... family, the Birlings. They are celebrating Sheila Birling's engagement to Gerald Croft, who is also present, when the Inspector arrives telling them of the suicide of a young girl called Eva Smith. At first they deny any knowledge of the girl, but as the play goes on the Inspector manages to show that they all helped kill her. Mr Birling had her ... Birling (Mr & Mrs Birling's son) also had an affair with the girl and stole money to keep her living; and Mrs Birling used her influence to deny help to Eva Smith when she needed it most, driving her to suicide. Characters: Mr Birling: is th...

• Word Count: 1526
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... her family, in the same upper class atmosphere, she has a totally different attitude to the situation than the rest of them. She realised she had done wrong in getting Eva Smith sacked from her job, for reasons such as she was having a bad day, and she was jealous of Eva's beauty. Sheila had done wrong, and given time and the current ... it doesn't much matter who it was that made us confess." At first they were all defensive and refuse to admit their responsibility for what damage was caused to Eva Smith, however, they all begin to crack, but the degree to which they accept the blame, ...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5

... 1940's by J.B.Priestly and was first produced in London on 1st October 1946 at the New Theatre.The play is set in the year 1912.The play is about Eva Smith a young woman of twenty four years who has died in a infirmary.She had been taken there because she'd swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant.She committed suicide.Inspector Goole arrives for ... ...

• Word Count: 1612
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School