responsibility

• The Inspector

  Demands each character be held accountable and admit personal responsibility for the chain of events which led to Eva's death
• Each character had an individual connection with Eva

  Their actions will have influenced her fate
• Sheila

  • The first character in the play to accept responsibility for her actions, which demonstrates her courage and empathy
• Eric

  • Initially offers marriage to Eva which shows some attempt at responsibility
  • As the father of her child, he ultimately fails in his duty to protect both of them
• The Inspector

  Urges the characters (and the audience) to consider their social responsibility, arguing individuals have a civic duty to ensure their actions must benefit the whole of society
• Priestley argues that members of a society have duties and obligations towards the welfare of others
• Priestley suggests they have a collective and social responsibility to take care of each other
• Arthur and Sybil

  As they hold prominent positions within society, the Inspector suggests they have an even greater duty of care towards others
• While the Inspector alludes to ideas of responsibility and duty

  Arthur and Sybil also repeatedly use these words though they interpret them in very different ways
• Eva


  • Priestley presents her as having a greater sense of moral responsibility than all of the other characters
• When the Inspector leaves in Act III

  It provides an opportunity for the characters to reveal if they have learned anything from his message
• Only Eric and Sheila have grasped the Inspector's message; Arthur, Sybil and Gerald are blind to it
• Priestley emphasises the importance of both personal and social responsibility
• Priestley insists this extends beyond the confines of a family unit and spreads to society as a whole
• Some of the acts committed by the Birlings and Gerald may not individually seem to have been so terrible to drive Eva to suicide
• Priestley emphasises that individual actions may well begin a chain of events which may have devastating consequences