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Write About The Ways In Which Birling, Eric and Gerald Treat Women

“An Inspector Calls” is a play by the late J.B Priestly. The play was first published in 1947 straight after the Second World War. The play deals with many issues such as morality and responsibilities of each human.

The main characters in the play are Arthur Birling, his wife Sybil, his son Eric, daughter Sheila, future son in law Gerald and Inspector Goole.

The play revolves around the death of Eva Smith (she is also known as Daisy Renton) who is said to have committed suicide after her unfortunate meetings with each of the Birlings and Gerald. At the start of the play the Birlings are celebrating Sheila’s engagement with Gerald, when unexpectedly inspector Goole arrives to question the Birlings and Gerald. The inspector tries to show and convince the characters how and what parts they played in Eva’s death. All the characters succumb to the inspector’s unconventional way of questioning and tell him how they each were in correlation with Eva’s death. After the inspector departs Gerald finds out that the inspector was not in fact an inspector and the whole thing was a hoax. Sheila and Eric are still in repentance about what they had done to Eva but the rest were comforted by the news and were very much relieved. Then they all are shocked when they receive a phone call from the infirmary saying that a girl called Eva Smith had just come in to the infirmary after swallowing some disinfectant and a inspector is on his way to question them all and this is where the play ends.

To answer the essay question in its entirety the characters that I will mainly look at are the male characters Eric, Arthur Birling and Gerald Croft and see the way they have treated and treat women in their lives. I will also look at these characters views on society and whether their views in any way are affected by their status.

The first character I will look at is Mr Birling who is a self-confessed “hard headed business man”.

He also likes dishing out advice to youngsters even when it is not called for.

Mr Birling is also a very business minded person and has a rather peculiar way of thinking either something will promote his business or demote it.

Mr Birling is also somewhat of a visionary he feels that only good can happen and the world can only progress. He feels that the inevitable war will not occur and the titanic will not sink

“Germans don’t want war, nobody want’s war” “In a year or two we’ll have aeroplanes that will be able to go anywhere. The Titanic she sails next week, New York in 5 days unsinkable absolutely unsinkable.”

The author JB Priestly brings out the ironies here using the stubborn and shrewd character of Mr Birling because the war does commence and the unsinkable Titanic sinks. This passage also shows the Mr Birling is both arrogant and ignorant.

Mr Birling is also very wealthy but not through inheritance but hard work, whilst his wife Sybil on the other hand is an aristocrat she therefore was born into money. Mr Birling seems to have a lot of respect for his wife and also seems to be intimidated by her.

“Well, well- this is very nice. Good dinner too, Sybil. Tell the cook from me”.

Here Mr Birling is praising the cook in front of their guest Gerald who is also an aristocrat and this annoys and embarrasses Sybil as she is as an aristocrat and sees herself above the working class.

“Arthur you are not supposed to say such things.”

This passage also symbolises the varied upbringings of the characters. This also shows that Mr Birling does not mind being dominated by his wife and letting her have her own way. Mr Birling does however treat his wife with respect and in the scene where the inspector is questioning his wife he also protects her

“Is there any reason why my wife should answer questions from you inspector.”

At one point Mr Birling also asks Sheila to escort Mrs Birling out of the room,

“Sheila, take your mother along to the drawing room.”

This shows that he cares for his wife. This is different for the men, as he never tells Eric or Gerald to leave the room because he thinks, as they are men they would be able to cope with Inspector and his questions.

Mr Birling does not even mind being criticised by his wife

“Oh stop it, both of you. And please remember before you start accusing me of anything again that it wasn’t I who had her turned out of employment-which probably began it all.”

 This shows the Mrs Birling is a dominating character who can give as good as she gets. Mr Birling unlike men in those days allows his wife to have an opinion of her own. It’s hard to tell who wears the trousers in this relationship, as they both are strong-minded people. Overall Mr Birling has respect for his wife, cares for her and does not mind being dominated by her though he himself is quite arrogant I feel this is because she is at the pecking order in the class system and therefore is socially higher than him.

An another woman who Mr Birling interacts with is his daughter Sheila who he is also very protective of. “There isn’t a slightest reason why my daughter should be dragged in this unpleasant business.”

He is also close to his daughter just like his wife. Mr Birling is overjoyed at the fact that his daughter is to marry his rival’s son Gerald. Mr Birling does seem to be happy about the engagement for more than one reason

“Perhaps we may look forward to a time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but working together.”

This makes you think that is he happy for her daughter to be engaged to Gerald as any father would or does he see his daughter as a golden goose who may produce her golden eggs thus helping her father in his quest for a bigger business. Some may think that Mr Birling may care more about his business than his daughter. I feel he is so enthusiastic about the engagement as his business can now be merged with his rivals (Crofts). Mr Birling at one point also asks Sheila to leave the room but she refuses

“Nothing to do with you Sheila run along.”

This proves that he does care for his daughter and this also proves that Sheila does not mind undermining her father’s authority by staying there. Sheila openly defies her father many times. Sheila is quite an emotional character and this is proven when she starts crying this causes much distress to Mr Birling so he may genuinely care for his daughter. Mr Birling also tries to let Sheila know who is in charge as his pride gets dented whenever Sheila tries to take control. Mr Birling and his wife both are infuriated with Sheila’s display of remorse.

(angrily) “He wasn’t a inspector”

The reason why Mr Birling and Sheila conflict so often is not because Sheila is a woman but because they disagree so often because Sheila is as he feels is lower than he feels his pride is dented when she opposes him. Mr Birling has to prove he is right.

You further get an insight in to Mr Birling’s character when he tells Sheila not to call of the engagement with Gerald even after he has found out that Gerald had an affair with Eva.

“Now Sheila I’m not defending him. But you must understand that a lot of young men”(Sheila stops him here)

He suggests they stay together as it would be better for business and this proves he is thinking more of himself then his daughter’s future and happiness. Mr Birling is a very business minded person and in this case profits may come before family.

When Sheila tells the inspector everything she knows and continues argue Mr Birling feels that Sheila is not being loyal to her family this is shown when he says: “If you had any sense of loyalty.” Mr Birling feels that telling the truth is not being faithful.

The final female character who Mr Birling comes in to contact with is Eva Smith who used to be an employee of Mr Birling. Once the inspector starts questioning Mr Birling we find out hat he thought Eva was a good worker and he was going to promote her “A good worker too. In fact the foremen there told me he was ready to promote her” but this all changed after she organised a strike and he fired her. When asked why he did this he says,

“

It is my duty to keep labour costs down.”

This proves further more that Mr Birlings main prerogative money which he cares for more than someone’s livelihood. I feel that the only reason he fired her is not because of the commotion she caused but because she was undermining Mr Birlings authority and thus causing him to lose some of his influence if he tolerated her. This is shown where he say’s:

“She’d had a lot to say-far too much-she had to go.”

I feel Mr Birling feels he needs the to have the security of being in control and influencing everything that takes place. At first he thought Eva Smith was a fine worker so why did not he try to compromise with her and meet a mutual agreement, this shows that he sees his workers as cheap labour which can be easily replaced. I do not feel that Mr Birling done what he did to Eva because she is a female but because is lower class to him and he feels others should not try and take control from him, to an extent he is a control freak. Mr Birling felt no amnesty for Eva Smith after she had died this is because she is just cheap easily replaceable labour. I have reached my conclusion and that is that Mr Birling treats women according to what society deems how he should. If they are of equal status or above him he will treat them with much respect and gratitude like Mrs Birling, but if they are of lower class he will treat them with little respect or gratitude like Eva Smith and Sheila. He acts this way to impress society and because he feels if you belong in a particular society then you should follow their rules in a certain way he thinks he is being judged and when he fired Eva he got points for that. He did not have any remorse for Eva all he cared about that he looks good in the end.

            Eric seems to be quite different from his dad as he openly contradicts and continuously defies his mother and has little or no respect for her. I feel that Eric is not close to his mother at all.

“You haven’t made it any easier for me have you mother?”

I feel that Eric does not give or get any attention from his mother and he is quite jealous of the relationship Gerald has with Sybil. Eric and Sybil do not seem to say much to each other and when they do it is never anything approving.

I feel that Sybil knows about the things that Eric does like his drinking but never seems to confront him about that because she either does not care or in her mind thinks of her son as this innocent little boy.

“Besides you’re not the type- you don’t get drunk”

Sybil knew that Eric did get drunk but put on this show when the inspector was there so she does not look like the reckless mother. This proves that in some way Mrs Birling is like her husband. There isn’t much conversation between Mrs Birling and Eric as they are not that close. Even when Eric is upset and feels penitent for what he done and then Mrs Birling says: “Eric! you stole money?” this shows that is not really a caring  that considered of Eric’s feelings. At one point where Eric was really upset Sybil does apologies to him without making it obvious she was at fault “No Eric please I didn’t know I didn’t understand.” Eric is further made livid at his mother when she did not offer any help to Eva when she asked for it.

Mrs Birling and Eric don’t seem to share a bond that most mother and son do there is no mutual respect. I think that Sybil is embarrassed by her son and Eric couldn’t care less.

            Eric and his sister Sheila don’t seem to get on with each other as they are always bickering.

“All the best! She’s got a nasty temper sometimes-but she’s not bad really. Good old Sheila”

Eric more often then not embarrasses and upsets her. I feel that Eric is jealous of his sister not only because she is getting engaged but also because Mr and Mrs Birling seem to divert more of their attention to Sheila than to him it also seems that they are quite fond of Sheila and this really annoys Eric. I feel that Eric and Sheila don’t really get on because they are quite different from each other whilst Eric is one of the lads Sheila is more feminine and easily offended they are like chalk and cheese. Eric gets even more incensed with Sheila because she had told Mrs Birling that Eric drinks too much.

“You told her. Why you little sneak!

This is when we find out that Sheila does care for her brother as she goes on to say: “I could have told her months ago, but of course I didn’t. I only told her tonight because I knew everything was coming out.”

Eric and Sheila I feel benefit from this inquisition from the inspector as I feel they come closer together. They both feel regretful for what they have done and this is the common ground they share thus draws them together. At the start of the play they were unable to see eye to eye but near the end of the play they agree with each other and this is shown when Eric say’s:

“No, Sheila’s right.”

The reason behind both these characters reasoning is because the both feel contrite and are the only ones who feel this guilt and therefore they are the only ones who can offer each other an shoulder to cry on.

            Another women who Eric had a relationship with was Eva Smith. At the commence of the play when Eric finds out that a girl named Eva Smith has died he feels sorry what has happened to her. “My God” Eric thought he did not know Eva Smith and still he supports Eva’s pursuit for higher wages.

Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices. And I don’t see why she should have been sacked just because she had a bit more spirit than the others. You said yourself she was a good worker. I’d have let her stay.”

This proves that Eric is quite considered and has a different perspective towards women compared to his father. We can see that Eric is not that money minded probably because his father has ample of it. Eric thinks that he has never acquainted with Eva Smith “Neither have I” Eric gets further agitated when the inspector tells him to stay as he wants to question him as he feels he has nothing to do with the inquiry.

As the play goes on we realise that Eric has a different side to him as well. In Act 3 we find out that Eric forced himself to have sex with the vulnerable Eva and managed to get her pregnant all this happened when he was under the influence of alcohol.

“I began talking to her, and stood her a few drinks. I was rather far gone by the times we had to go.”

Eric then goes on to explain that he forced him self in to Eva’s lodgings. “I’m not clear about it, but afterwards she told me she didn’t want me to go in. I was in a state when a chap easily turns nasty.”

You can see that Eric took advantage of Eva’s susceptible and helpless position. Eric deeply regrets what he had done and this shown when he says: “that’s the hellish thing. Oh my god! -how stupid is all this.” I feel that Eric feels he has been evil and in retrospect would have done things differently. However this was not the only meeting Eric had with Eva he also met her again. “I happened to see her again in the palace bar.” Eric did not love Eva but I feel he used her for sex. “I wasn’t in love with her.” When he found out she was pregnant Eric say’s he was in a hell of a state. Eric then goes on to say that he stole “50 pounds” from his dad’s office to help support Eva and the baby which was due. This show’s that Eric may have cared about Eva or that he was guilty for what he had done and paid her off. I feel Eric made a mistake and is profoundly regretful. He was also saddened because he felt Eva treated him as if he were a kid not a fully-grown man.

“In a way she treated me as if I were a kid.” 

He was also grieved at the fact that Eva did not want to see him again.

“She didn’t want to see me again.”

This proves that Eric did in some way did genuinely care about Eva and may have wanted to be part of her and the baby’s life but she didn’t. Eric is even infuriated with his mother because she obliged to help Eva in a time of need. This proves that Eric is no a heartless man but a misunderstood man who made a mistake and is paying for it with this burden of guilt. Even after Eric finds out the inspector was a fake he still feels sorry for what he has done because he knows what he did was erroneous and unjustified.

I feel that Eric has realised the mistake he has made and will now improve as a human and also his attitudes towards women will and probably have changed. I also feel he has found and realised his place in society and fully well knows that he cannot continue with the way he has been acting.

            Gerald is very different from Mr Birling and Eric in the way he treats women. Gerald treats Mrs Birling with the utmost respect I feel he does this because he want’s her to like him back. The reason why Mrs Birling and Gerald agree so much is because they both come from similar if not identical backgrounds, as they both are aristocrats. This is shown when Mrs Birling is impressed by the way Gerald handles the situation when Sheila was about to cry.

“Well it came at the right moment. That was clever of you Gerald.”

Mrs Birling also defends Gerald when Sheila was upset that Gerald wasn’t there during the summer months.

“When you are married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business.”

Here Mrs Birling is speaking from experience.  Gerald could be the son that she always wanted because Gerald is charming, intelligent and respectable which is more than she can say for her own son. I fell that Mrs Birling is closer to Gerald than her own son. Gerald is also Mrs Birling’s ideal son in law as she feels that he can make Sheila a happy woman. Gerald and Mrs Birling are close as they both have the same background and therefore probably have the same morals and views. Mrs Birling may just get on with Gerald to improve her social status.

Gerald appears to really care a lot about Sheila as he is nice to her and on the surface appears to be in love with her. This is shown when he say’s:

“ I hope I can make you as happy as you deserve to be”

Only a man who is deeply in love would say such things. Whenever Sheila gets upset Gerald is there to make her happy. The way Gerald treats Sheila is quite peculiar because you get the feeling that he loves her but he also cheated on her and lied to her and when Sheila finds out he is very understanding as he knows and expects Sheila to break of the engagement which shows he has taken Sheila’s considerations into account. When Sheila starts crying Gerald brings out a ring to cheer her up but he never asks her what the problem was, this could mean that he cares more about himself and is in a way selfish.  He really does not want to lose Sheila so you do wonder weather he is just being charming when he says things like

“I was expecting this”

so he will then be able to win her back at a later point. He seems to know what to say at the right time not only to Sheila but also Mrs Birling. At the end of the play he doesn’t seem to have changed his ways so this can mean that he would do what he has done previously again. It’s hard tot ell how he feels about Sheila. We know that he wasn’t forced to marry Sheila by his parents because his parent’s were not present at the engagement, which proves they disapprove of this. I think Gerald really does care about Sheila but has made mistakes in his relationship.

            When Gerald finds out that a girl called Eva was dead he doesn’t seem to feel sorry for her and he feels that her getting fired from Mr Birlings business was a justified act we don’t know whether he is doing this to impress Mr Birling or these are his general views. This is shown when he says thus to Mr Birling

“you couldn’t have done anything else”.

As they play goes on we found out that Gerald had an affair with Eva Smith known to him as Daisy Renton. Gerald actually genuinely cared for Eva this is shown when he just finds out she is dead and says:

“I’ve suddenly realised-taken it in properly-that she’s dead”

Gerald met Eva at a bar where a man was harassing her and Gerald saved her and provided her with a roof and also gave her lots of money. His actions prove that he really cared about Eva and did not just use her for pleasure. I feel that Gerald and Eva left on mutual terms as they both thought the relationship could not progress. Gerald then does go on to say that he did not love Eva.

 “ I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me”

this puts Gerald in predicament why didn’t he just help her and then leave her what I feel is Gerald genuinely wanted to help her and the affair just happened it was never intended. I feel that Gerald may have fancied her but he mainly wanted to help her because of his attitudes towards women he feels women should be protected I say this because when the inspector asks him

“do you think women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things”

Gerald replies

 “ If possible yes”

Gerald feels that it is his prerogative as a man to protect women and therefore he helped Eva.

I feel that genuinely is a nice man and does have respect for women in general but I feel as he has been brought up in an aristocratic family he finds it hard to express himself. If you look deeply into Gerald’s character it reflects that of Mr Birlings and therefore he cannot be nice.

            My conclusion is that each of the men in this essay has a different view about women and also acts differently with women. Mr Birling acts with women depending on their status and whether they will oppose his power or not. He also sees his daughter as an opportunity for him to make more money. He gives his wife all the respect because she is an aristocrat. He doesn’t give any respect to Eva because she is undermining his authority. He doesn’t have a particular way of treating women it just depends on who and what they are. Mr Birling is arrogant and ignorant and therefore his views cannot and will not be changed even after his experience with inspector his main prerogative is profits.

Gerald treats women differently as well he feels that women deserve to be protected this may not be politically correct but that’s the way men were and are brought up. He cared for Eva but we do not know if that was his main initiative. He cares for Sheila but also cheats on her whether he thinks he can get away with it because she is a woman is questionable. He treats Mrs Birling with respect as well this is because she is elder to him and also the same status to him also. Overall Gerald treats women with respect but his treatment of Sheila leave in a predicament if he loved her why did he cheat on her and lie to her and then try and cover it up whether what happened was a genuine mistake or not we will never know.

Eric views about woman change over the course of the play. Eric was a bit immature and treated his mother with no respect and the same goes for his sister. He won’t have any respect for his mum because she never gives him an attention and he and his sister don’t see eye to eye but at the end of the play they are the ones consolidating each other. Eric abused and used Eva for his pleasure not only because she was a woman but also because she had become weak but he feels guilty for what he has done and now probably is wiser and mature.

All the men in the play mistreated the women this is because during the early 1900’s women were seen as the weaker sex and men took advantage of this and therefore this is reflected in the play. The other observation I have made is that I feel the women in the play treated Eva worse than any of the men did.

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