The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft family and points out behaviours that are selfish. He also points to the wider selfishness of a society that is driven by profit and with no structured welfare system to support vulnerable people. This is an expose of life in Edwardian
Britain that would have made a 1945 audience question what sort of society they wanted to create following the devastation of two world wars.
This selfishness is presented in a number of ways.
Firstly, Priestly draws attention to the political and economic system that first set Eva off on her downward spiral.
With a lack of lawful minimum wage, Birling can set whatever wages he wants. But his selfishness
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By using ‘anything’ he tries to make him sound completely innocent, yet the audience knows that Gerald did get a sexual return from his mistress.
And that if he really loved her, he wouldn’t have left her after six months, to selfishly pursue his own marriage which benefited his business interests. He claims that Daisy said ‘she had never been happier’, ‘happier’ suggesting that he had a good influence on her life. But the happier he made her, the further she had to fall emotionally when he left her. This is also highlighted by the way Gerald, alongside Mr and Mrs Birling, refuse to accept any responsibility for what happened to Eva after the inspector’s visit. He seems to feel genuine emotion at the time of learning of Daisy’s death, exclaiming ‘In that case – as I’m rather more – upset – by this business…’ The use of the hyphens perhaps suggests that Gerald is struggling to contain his sadness or anger at what happened and finding it difficult to speak.
However, at the end of the play, after deciding the Inspector was a hoax, he seems to have quickly gotten over his upset. He turns to Sheila and says, ‘Everything’s all right now, Sheila. Now what about this ring?’. The audience
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The structure of the play also allows us to see Gerald kept up a charade of pretending everything is alright with Sheila before the Inspector arrives but after his affair with Daisy. He presents Sheila with an engagement ring (which is of his own choosing not Sheila’s: ‘is it the one you wanted me to have?”) and his own selfish conscience doesn’t seem to have been struck before the
Inspector’s gruelling questioning. This is reflected by the pink lighting in the opening scene, symbolising the Birling’s contentment, before the Inspector’s arrival when a ‘harder, brighter’ light is used symbolising that their selfish behaviours are being brought ‘into the light’.
The consequences of selfishness are seen to be so dramatic and devastating, that an audience can’t help but be moved to condemn it and to consider their own actions in their own society. Gerald and the Birling’s conclude that if the Inspector isn’t real, then his message doesn’t carry any weight. Yet, here, Priestly contrastingly convinces
Sheila says this to Eric at the table. As we can see this is quite a
When we first meet the Birling family Sheila (the daughter) when she was having an engagement party as she had been recently been engaged to Gerald Croft. She is described as “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very Pleased with life and rather excited." This shows that she may be naïve and that it is quite unusual attitude in the patriarchal society. There are many ideas behind why she got engaged to Gerald this as it may be simply love but, some may argue
listen to him, then they do. Sheila even says about him " I hate to
Near the end of the play when they find out that Inspector Goole
“Whodunit”, it gradually becomes clear that there is an underlying serious issue. The play examines social responsibility, with the Birling family and Gerald Croft being questioned about the suicide of Eva Smith.
because he knows how to win Daisy's love, doesn't mean he put much thought into what
Ethical egoism is diametrically opposite to ethical altruism, which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if he sacrifices his own interest. Further, researchers justify and rationalize the mental position of egoism versus altruism through an explanation that altruism is destructive for a society, suppressing and denying an individual value. Although the ‘modern’ age unsubtly supports swaggering egoistic behavior in the competitive arena such as international politics, commerce, and sport, in other ‘traditional’ areas of the prideful selfishness showing off, to considerable extent discourages visible disobedience from the prevalent moral codes. In some cases, the open pro-egoist position, as was, per example, the ‘contextual’ interpretation of selfishness by famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, can be described as a ‘grotesque anomaly’.
Mr Birling, a wealthy capitalist man, and a "rather portentous man," is an ignorant, over-confident, arrogant man who finds it difficult to think about other people. He doesn’t believe in "community and all that nonsense". Birling has a narrow perspective of the world and says that "a man has to make us own way". After Eva had lost her job, he expected her to fend for herself, which was an unfair judgement. Birling dismisses the idea of social responsibility and he calls people like the Inspector "cranks". Birling didn’t care about his workers and proudly says "I have a couple hundred workers under me, who keep changing," which further iterates the idea of him being arrogant and boastful.
aside when she was born and he probably had been emotionally damaged ever since then.
knew that she didn't love him, but still proceeded to commit the rest of his life to her. Consequently, a story of forbidden passion, hatred, and jealousy unfolds.
knew he wanted more and worked hard to improve his life. Daisy grew tired of
...tically took blame for everything to spare Daisy from being accused of murder.”’Was Daisy driving?’ ‘Yes… but of course I’ll say I was” (143) His eternal love for Daisy made him fear nothing, he only feared solitude; his passion for that girl made him strong before any situation; his commitment made him persevere till the end: “’How long are you going to wait?’, ‘All night if necessary’” (144).
that her husband was having an affair with another women but Daisy did not do
much felt the same way or he thought Daisy really liked him so he didn't want to
gave in to his feelings by marrying her in spite of her and her family's