Who Is Responsible For The Death Of

Eva Smith Essay, Research Paper

There are many different factors involved in the death of

Eva Smith.. Each one pushed Eva Smith a

little closer to suicide but no one person was solely responsible for her

death.. Whether one person deserves to

take more of the blame than another does it is difficult to say.. It was not only people that contributed to

Eva Smith.s death but her position in the world and the way in which her life

worked out.Mr

Birling was the first person who we were led to believe started off the train

of events that ultimately led to the death of Eva Smith.. I don.t believe that Mr Birling did anything

wrong towards Eva after all the only thing he did was sack her from his factory

after she started to cause trouble demanding higher wages.. Any man in his position would have done the

same.. She was making trouble as Mr

Birling said, .She had a lot to say . far too much so she had to go..Although

I don.t think that Mr Birling did anything really wrong regarding Eva he does

not come off well throughout the play as he shows himself up a number of times

because of his personality.. The major

flaw in his personality is that he seems to show no remorse for Eva who after

all was a person.. He seems to be a very

hard man, and shows no regret for dismissing Eva, despite knowing that if he

had not then she may still have been alive. He merely stated that, .If you

don.t come down sharply on some of these people they will soon be asking for

the earth..Mr

Birling always seems to want his own way and when he does not get it he resorts

to threatening behaviour which clearly would make him unpopular with the

audience.. When Mr Birling felt that the

Inspector was asking too many questions Mr Birling says about the chief

constable, .Perhaps I ought to warn you that he is an old friend of mine... Even before the Inspector had arrived we see

Mr Birling in an unfavourable light..

For example in an attempt to be intellectual he says things that we now

know to be completely untrue such as describing the Titanic as .Completely

unsinkable. and saying .the Germans don.t want war... We

see none of Mr Birling.s good traits instead we see him as a dishonest, cold

know it all of a man.. I think that Mr

Birling.s character is portrayed in this way because then it does n.t matter

that his part in Eva.s death was so small and understandable we dislike him

just as much or perhaps even more than the other characters.Sheila

was the second person that the Inspector turned on and her part in the run up

to Eva.s death shows her in an unfavourable light as she turned on Eva because

she was jealous of her. Sheila wrongfully used her position as an important

customer to turn Eva out of a job.. She

even admits, .it was my own fault., and that she. .was in a furious temper.. She was jealous of Eva describing her

as a .very pretty girl too . with big dark eyes..Although

her actions show her to be a bad tempered, jealous and malicious person you get

the impression as she begins to talk that that is quite a harsh view of her and

that although she does have bad characteristics she isn.t really as bad as you

first think her to be.. She shows

herself to be honest admitting straight away all that she had done, that she

caught sight of her smiling at the assistant and. .I was furious with her..Sheila

does show empathy for Eva which is more than her father, Mr Birling did. It is

obvious that she does regret all that she had done with regard to Eva claiming

that, .If I could help her now I would...

Sheila comes across as very remorseful as she says .I felt rotten about

it at the time and now I feel a lot worse...

She bitterly resents what she did as well promising that .I.ll never,

never do it again... This makes you feel

less anger for Sheila who now feels terrible guilty for Eva and has now been

punished severely simply by knowing the implications her temper and jealousy

had.Gerald

was the third person to come under the spotlight. He must feel differently

towards Eva than either Mr Birling or Sheila did as he knew her personally, not

as Eva Smith but as Daisy Denton; who in short was his mistress, for a while

until it was no longer convenient for him..

It could be argued that Gerald came as almost a .saviour. to Eva and I

think that is how he sees himself as when he first saw her he said that she

.gave me a glance that was nothing more than a cry for help.. I believe that he

did genuinely care for Eva but he didn.t love her as he admitted that: .I

didn.t feel about her as she felt about me..Gerald

was fairly honest admitting his part in Eva.s life fairly readily.. He had good manners and said the right thing

but it is hard to decide whether he does mean what he says or that he is simply

trying to come across as well as he possibly can.Gerald