Theme Of Responsibility In An Inspector Calls

“An Inspector Calls” is a play written by JB Priestly, that revolves around a theme of blame and responsibility. To convey and show the moral of the play, it is contrasted to compare differences and to emphasize by setting responsibility as a central theme of the play but then providing a fascinating portrait of the way that people can let themselves off the hook and take no responsibility whatsoever. Priestly explicitly differentiates and portrays between those who have accepted their responsibility, those who blamed others and those who had no remorse whatsoever and went on with their lives as if nothing happened. However, in spite of its obvious structure and stereotyped characters, Priestly never failed to set an aura of dimension and suspense …show more content…
She states, “I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have” her narrow sense of morality dictates that the father of the child should be responsible for his welfare, regardless of the circumstances. The irony is clearly shown as she contrasts herself by stating that the father of the child should have taken responsibility, when she takes none at all for her horrid actions against Eva. She insured that her influence on the decision of accepting Eva’s case would be useful just because of her “prominent position” at the organization to guarantee the rejection of Eva’s case. Like mother like daughter, Mrs.Birling has also used her power for the wrong reasons. Her ignorance is clear as she states that she cannot “accept no blame at all” even after revealing her actions towards Eva, claiming it was her “duty” to do so. Mrs.Birling states “Before you start accusing me of anything again that it wasn’t I who had her turned out of her employment – which probably began it all.” To cast the blame of Eva’s death upon someone else and avoid the blame directed towards her, she implies that Arthur Birling is the one to blame for Eva’s death, hinting that he had began this “wrecked business” by firing her in the first place. It is evident that Priestly wanted to show that Mrs.Birling was intimidating the …show more content…
Similar to his wife, Mr.Birling also refused to take responsibility of his actions and Eva’s death, “I still can’t accept any responsibility” it is assumed that if he refused to take responsibility for Eva’s death, he obviously blames someone else. Mr.Birling believes that everyone is responsible for himself, and no one is concerned with the other, he strongly believes that every man is for himself, “If we are all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?” it is assumed that Arthur is referring to himself, he’s implying that just because he had something to do with Eva by firing her from her job, that it does not mean that he had been the cause of her suicide. Mr.Birling clearly is engrossed in the idea that “a man has to mind his own business” his mindset is that everyone is responsible for themselves and their significant ones only, and that no one should interfere or be concerned with the other’s responsibilities. Throughout the play, The writer uses the inspector to send the message and the moral of the play however a confliction arises between the inspector and Mr.Birling as they have both two different mindsets, but later on Arthur is proven to be wrong by the results of his