Eric Birling Corruption

Eric Birling is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Birling who is ‘in his mid-twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive’; it is as if he has something to hide. He works in his father's firm. His odd behavior is used by Priestley to hint that his secrets will later disrupt and threaten the Birling's way of life.

At the beginning of the play, Eric acts suspicious and lacks confidence showing that he could be hiding something and suggests that he is isolated from the family. Eric's laugh interrupts the polite conversation earlier in the play("Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh"), just like how his behavior disrupts the illusion of respectability. Sheila accuses her brother of being somewhat drunk 'squiffy'. This forewarns us about his parent's

ignorance of his drinking habit. His parents clearly do not take him seriously and their lack of parental love may also have contributed to his low self-esteem and heavy drinking. Eric remarks upon Sheila's behavior "nasty temper sometimes - but she's not bad really". The 'Buffs' were an east-Kent Regiment (so-called because of the color of their uniforms). The phrase with its military meaning of standing firm against the enemy was first used by Rudyard Kipling, soon it became a slang phrase. Eric is, therefore, asking Sheila for more self-control. Everyone keeps up their appearance but Eric makes it obvious there is something murky underneath. He is treated as an irresponsible child by his father 'Just keep quiet, Eric, and don't get excited' expressing the separate relationship the family has. Birling is disappointed with Eric and gets better with Gerald, which must be upsetting for Eric. Eric takes a stance against his father's action "And I don't know why she should have been sacked just because she'd be a bit more than the others." This is the first of many of such attribution that will be of guilt that will be made throughout the play. He is portrayed as a troublesome son.

Mr.Birling thinks that he knows more about life than Eric "That's something this public-school-and-Varsity life you've had doesn't seem to teach you" but this suggests that Eric has a superior education to Mr.Birling as he understands the situation and approaches more seriously. He has hidden some dirty secrets. We can see his "familiarity with quick heavy drinking" when he pours the whiskey in act 3. Eric lacks self-control so his secret gets out. He regrets his involvement with Eva Smith and recognizes that the validity of the inspector does not matter and represents the younger, impressionable people in society, giving hope. He does not give any detail about what happened, showing that he can barely bring himself to admit what he has done and leaving the audience to form their own conclusions about what happened. He is an alcoholic "I was in a state when a chap easily turns nasty" and apparently forced himself on Eva and got her 'pregnant' and can not even remember it happening. Thus showing his irresponsibility and he also stole money from his own father to support her. Eric is involved in what is arguably the most emotional moment of the play when he accuses his mother of murdering his unborn child(her grandchild), saying 'you turned her away- yes, and you killed her", revealing a standing inability to accept his own actions. His drunkenness represents the bad side of the Birling family.

The theme of judgment is brought in when Gerald treats Daisy as his 'mistress' and when he ends the affair his reputation is not damaged and even Sheila would still like 'to start again'.

But Eric drunkenly gets Eva pregnant, steals money for her it is likely that he has brought a scandal to his family. This also reflects the state where Birling's respectable friends like the Alderman Meggarty. They behave badly but no one says anything because of the higher class superiority. Eric is not the only one, but due to his lack of self-control, he is the one to be found out. His parents do not want a scandal so they do not care about him as much as they care about what people will think. Eric is unloved and he shouts at his mother "you don't understand anything. You never did. You never even tried-" it might even be the angriest moment in the play. He feels isolated from the family and 'no one understands him.' The distant relationship between him and his mother is clarified when she says in act 1"your not the type, you don't get drunk" clearly stating her vague knowledge of her very own

son.

Eric does not have a very good relationship with his parents. He complains that neither of his parents is the type of people you could go to if you were seeking help, "your not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble." Priestley does this to present Mr. and Mrs. Birling as capitalists who are bad parents so that other parents will not want to be like them. Physical attraction was the main motive behind Eric's relationship with Eva. He did not love her, he just took advantage of her "she was pretty and a good sport."Priestley brings this in to show how in 1912 many men had relationships with women purely because of the sexual aspect. He concludes this with a tragic ending to try to deter men from treating women this way. In the play, Eric forces himself upon and takes advantage of Eva/Daisy "she told me she didn't want me to go in"I insisted."Through this, Priestley displays to his audience how because of the patriarchal society, men can easily take advantage of women. He hopes that this will encourage men to stop treating women badly or it could end in tragic consequences (In this case a suicide).

Eric argued against Mr. Birling's (who represents the older generation) treatment of Eva Smith. This reinforces the audiences already forming an opinion that Eric is a better person than Birling. Priestley brings in this to convince his audience to be on Eric's side and therefore on the side of socialism. Along with Sheila, Eric represents the younger generation. He is shaken by the inspector's message and the role that he played Eva/Daisy's suicide, "my god - I'm not likely to forget" hence showing his sensitive nature. He and Sheila both take responsibility for their actions. He deeply regrets it "the fact remains I did what I did", he criticizes his parents for pretending nothing is happening, "You may be letting yourselves out nicely". Accordingly, he confesses his mistakes and by taking responsibility for his actions, he is doing the opposite to Mr. Birling, acting more socialist than a capitalist. Priestley manifests the theme of responsibility to make the readers trust the socialist characters more than the capitalist ones, in the hope that is audience will root for a more communally responsible and socialist future.

Ultimately, Eric speaks against his parents and states how he feels and becomes stronger as he is in more control of his life and does not need to rely on his parents anymore.

At the end of the play, he becomes a determined and reliable character as he understands what he has done and now has someone who understands him(Sheila). His concern about Eva, even after the inspector turned out to be a 'fake', "This girl's still dead, isn't she? Nobody's brought her to life, have they?","I still feel the same about it, and that's why I don't feel like sitting down and have a nice cozy talk" proves his sincerity for he will never forget what he has done. He admits his faults and is remorseful of his behavior. He has grown up considerably by the end of the play and the evening’s events can be seen as his path to adulthood and responsibility. His acknowledgment of guilt and acceptance of social responsibility leads to the audience sympathizing with him and Sheila stating ‘Eric’s absolutely right. And it’s the best thing any one of us has said tonight and it makes me feel a bit less ashamed of us.’ However, Priestley clearly wants the readers to understand that Eric is not a complete villain and that he is apparently an outcome of his upbringing and

environment.