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Responsibility in An Inspector Calls - Coggle Diagram
Responsibility in An Inspector Calls
Mr Birling
capitalist
Money is most important to him
therefore he will do whatever (whether it is right or not) to make profit
does not take responsibility
a choice he made not to
"I can't accept any responsibility"
arrogant
"Unsinkable absolutely unsinkable"
Dramatic irony - could represent his family and their position in society
‘I speak as a hard headed business man’
Mr Birling is very confident and insecure about his lower class he started in.He overcompensates for his insecurity by always talking.Mr Birling sees being emotionless and making profit as success.Arrogant.
dramatic irony "unsinkable absolutely unsinkable" 'the titanic'
shows he isn't smart
selfish
Was more concerned about his finances than about what Gerald had done
Father of Sheila and Eric, husband of Mrs Birling
Mrs Birling
does not take responsibility
'I did nothing I'm ashamed of. '
She feels as though she has only done her 'duty' by denying Eva Smiths cry for help
chose not to take repsonsibility
"Girls of that class"
Arrogant,shows the class divide,she is prejudice towards the lower classes.
Mother of Sheila and Eric, wife of Mr Birling
Eva Smith
Represents all the lower power people in society
poor
women
couldnt handle the bad treatment, was mistreated by the
upper classes
Eric
She tried as much as she could but then killed herself and took responibility as no one else would
Taken advantage of in different ways throughout the play
Forced upon by Eric
Birling family members refusing her help and getting her fired from jobs
Sheila threatens to cancel their membership and Milwards if they don't fire her
Refused help in a difficult time by Mrs Birling/ her charity
Mr Birling fires her from his factory
The Inspector
Socialist
Believes in equality, and treating people fairly
"Each of you helped to kill her"
"we are members of one body"
"We are responsible for one another"
Was not a real inspector, supposedly
"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other"
It is unknown who he actually was
omniscient
"i dont play golf"
Sheila
takes responsibility
Realises she does wrong and wants to try and change how she acts
gets eva fired from her job at Milwards
did not have a valid reason to do so, just because an item of clothing she liked looked better on eva
"We really must stop these silly pretences"
Shes guilty the same as everyone else.She is accepting the truth,showing socialist ideology,Sheila shows the generation gap by changing.She accepts she is not behaving in the right way.
‘You’re squiffy’
Daughter of Mr and Mrs Birling
Eric
takes responsibility
forces himself upon Daisy Renton
she get pregnant
When Eric finds out that Daisy Renton gets pregnant, he steals money from his dads buisness to support the child
"You're not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble".
He steals the money from his dads buisness
"You're not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble" .’
Son of Mr and Mrs Birling
Gerald
does not take responsibility
acts as a hero
Gerald sees himself as the good guy and sees no wrong in his actions, this highlights the lack of responsibility that he holds upon himself.
crofts ltd
capitalist
marrying sheila for business
"She was very pretty- soft brown hair and big dark eyes"
"Everythings alright now Sheila"
trying to control the situation
trying to use his power as a capitalist male to diffuse the situation
The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race
The industrial revolution introduced the large factorys that Eva had to work in
These factories took advatage of women and those who had less power
As a result, these large factories became a large way for people in power to make money and resulted in the industrial revolution
Mr Birling owned one of these factorys and as a result became a wealthy man
Society of 1912
Is driven by capitalistm
Shows it is segregated and unfair
The inspector is used to show how socialism will be the future and how it will be better than capitalism which is hurting these poor, poorly treated people
1912-1945
Both wars have happened
titanic sinks
responsibility
class
all characters are upper class and the upper class missuse their power which results in the death of Eva Smith.
Sheila gets Eva fired from her job at milwards when she is making herself "a good fresh start".This shows how Sheila missueses her power as a member of the upper class because she gets her fired because she was in a bad mood.This then results in a downward spiral for Eva Smith and she then becomes a prostitute who then meets Gerald.Gerald also missuses his power and manipulates Daisy Renton into thinking he is a hero.This shows Gerald's lack of responsibility that he takes for manipulating Daisy.Eventually Gerald leaves Daisy with some money because he has to leave and go back to Sheila.When being interrogated Gerald does not take responsibility fro any of his actions even though he cheated on Sheila who he is now engaged to.This links tot the theme of class because Gerald also missuses his power for the selfish benefit of himself.This shows us how Gerald missuses his power as a member of the upper class in society.
The upper class take advantage of the lower class in order to get what they want
Everyone was treated based on their social class and the upper class were treated with respect. However the lower class eg; Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton was looked down on and used to the upper class' advantage and even when she pleaded for help she was ignored by the higher classes just because of her rank in her class at the time.
gender
Women having less power than men
eva mistreated by mr birling, gerald and eric
Priestley wants society to change to be more equal for both genders. Wants the power divide to be smaller and everyone to be more responsible for each other, this is his political message. he is trying to make his audience reflect o their own actions and become more socially responsible
generation gap
The generation gap relates to responsibility. We can see that the younger generation have it easier to admit and take responsibility. "I know I'm to blame" is something Sheila says showing she is aware that she did wrong. However people like Mr Birling or Mrs Birling "can't accept any responsibility" as said by Mr Birling, showing that the older generation feel like they do not need to take responsibility for their actions. This is needed to show Priestley's message of 'responsibility' as it shows those with different mindsets (the younger being more connected with socialism) will want to treat people and life differently. This emphasizes that priestley doesn't see capitalism as effective and instead quite harmful and harsh to the lower classes, this links withe the theme of class.
family life
We see the birlings family life destroyed as the younger generation begin to disagree with the views and ideologies of the older generation. this is shown over the course of the play when sheila stops calling mrs birling "Mummy" and also begins to fight back with Mrs Birling this is shown in the quote "we must stop these silly pretences". Another way we see the family life of the Birlings get worse is as we see the opposing views of the older & younger generation; The older generation believe they have done nothing wrong whilst eric & sheila both take responsibility for their actions and no longer want to get themselves out of it, this divide is shown through the quote "The famous younger generation who know it all"
social
A key theme in society is socialism and differentiating political views, this could be taken to mean that people share different views and they have different beliefs on how the world should be worked and ran. I would argue that desperation also plays a key role in ideology and that tough times can lead to extreme measures taking place.
A key theme in society is society is Socialism the ideology that everyone should be equal with equal things, no rich or poor just everyone being the same. The quote