"Each of You Helped to Kill Her." Says the Inspector. Show Exactly What Part Each Member of the Birling Family (and Gerald Croft). Played in the Death of Eva Smith. Do You Think That Some Characters Are More Guilty Than Others?

"Each of you helped to kill her." Says the Inspector. Show exactly what part each member of the Birling family (and Gerald Croft). Played in the death of Eva Smith. Do you think that some characters are more guilty than others?
‘An Inspector Calls' is a play written by J.B Priestley. It is set in pre-World War One Britain, but was written in 1945, which enabled Priestley to use dramatic irony as a way of highlighting the ignorance of the Birling family. The play itself is as much a political (and social) statement as a form of entertainment and Priestley's strong left-wing views manifest themselves in the character of Inspector Goole. It is a strong and morally stimulating piece which uses climax and cliff-hangers to sustain the audience's interest.
Set in 1912 in the fictional town of Brumley, the play describes the suicide of a working class girl and how each member of the upper-middle class Birling family (and Gerald Croft) had a part to play in her death. I will be describing in detail the connection each member of the family had to Eva Smith and their level of culpability.
After analysing and evaluating each character's effect on Eva Smith, I will conclude who, I feel, was most responsible for her death.
Before the Inspector arrives, the Birling family and Gerald Croft are enjoying a small celebration for the engagement of Gerald and Sheila. Although the scene is mostly relaxed (in total contrast to the end of the play) there are small undertones of tension and conflict, such as when Sheila snaps at her brother Eric:
(Severely) "Now-what's the joke?", and the interchanges between Sheila and her husband to be,
(half-playful half-serious) "Yes- except for all last summer, when you never came near me, and I wondered what had happened to you."
The characters in the scene are all well-dressed and well spoken in a typically upper-middle class way, and the house is furnished in a fashion to display that they are a wealthy family with social status. Arthur... [continues]

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