Blame & Responsibility | Free Notes & Practice – English Lit: AQA GCSE An Inspector Calls

Blame and Responsibility: Characters

Priestley uses An Inspector Calls to highlight the unfair attitudes in society. Generally, the upper-class people refused to acknowledge how their actions affected the lower classes. The following characters accept no responsibility:

The Birlings

Priestley uses Mr and Mrs Birling to highlight the belief that lower-class people deserve their misfortune, and that upper-class people are entitled to (have the right to have) fortune, wealth and easy lifestyles.

Mr Birling

He refuses to accept any responsibility. Instead, he sees Eva as a troublemaker for wanting a pay raise.
He dismisses (plays down) the issue.
At the end, he is happy to forget the whole thing.

Mrs Birling

She refuses to accept any responsibility.
She feels that the father of Eva’s child should be the one responsible – until she realises it is her own son.
She then pushes the blame onto Eric.
She still refuses to accept that she did anything wrong even in her charitable role.

Gerald

He refuses to accept any responsibility.
He feels that he did his part in helping Eva. He does not feel guilt over making her his mistress.
He does not feel that he did anything wrong. He is very happy to forget the whole thing when he thinks the inspector is fake.

Blame and Responsibility: Characters

Priestley uses An Inspector Calls to highlight the unfair attitudes in society. Generally, the upper-class people refused to acknowledge how their actions affected the lower classes. But Priestley also uses the younger Birlings to suggest that the younger generation give some hope for society:

Sheila

She is shocked when she learns what happened to Eva because of her actions.
She feels extreme guilt and accepts responsibility for her actions.
Although she acted like a spoilt child, she matures in the play and accepts the role she played in Eva’s suicide.
She even tells her parents off for refusing to accept responsibility for their own actions.

Eric

He acknowledges that his actions were wrong.
He accepts responsibility for the role he played in damaging Eva’s life and for contributing towards her suicide.
He also tells his mother she should accept responsibility as well.

Inspector Goole

His role is to help each character to understand the consequences of their individual selfishness.
His role is also to try to encourage them to accept some responsibility. He hopes this will change their attitudes and help them to become less selfish.

Test yourself on Blame & Responsibility

Which of these are true about Gerald?
Which of these is not one of Inspector Goole's roles?
Which of these characters accept responsibility for playing a part in Eva's suicide in An Inspector Calls?
Which of these are true of Sheila in An Inspector Calls?
Which of these are true about Eric in An Inspector Calls?

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