responsibility

Question 1

(act 1 pg 23)

Answer 1

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

the frequent use of the first-person pronoun ‘I’ shows us that Sheila is aware of her poor behaviour as that she has accepted responsibility for the things that she has done.
The adjective ‘rotten’ implies the pity Sheila feels for Eva.

Question 2

(act 1 pg 26)

Answer 2

Gerald: You don’t. Neither of us does. So – for god’s sake – don’t say anything to the inspector.

Use of repeated short sentences and dashes reflects his emotional instability as Gerald tries to escape his scandal.

Question 3

(Act 2, pg 44)

Answer 3

“Unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation.”

Mrs Birling compares herself to ‘the other three’ which presents herself as superior to her husband, daughter and son –the preposition ‘unlike’ sets herself apart from the others revealing her cold and uncaring nature.
The strong pronoun ‘nothing’ implies her strict denial of responsibility highlighting that she genuinely feels no guilt or remorse about the role he played in the young woman’s death which would shock the audience.
Shows the dismissive nature of the upper class – they don’t listen to anyone inferior to them in any way.

Question 4

(Act 2, pg 48)

Answer 4

“Mrs B: find this young man and then make sure that he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility”.

She is trying to blame someone else to escape the feeling of guilt

Use of the imperative verbs ‘find’ and ‘compelled’ - Shows the dismissive nature of the upper class – they do everything to protect their status.

Question 5

(act 3 pg 56)

Answer 5

Priestley uses the battle between Birling and the Inspector as an allegory for the conflict between capitalists and socialists in the real world.
E.g. Birling says ‘(unhappily) Look, Inspector – I’d give thousands – yes, thousands’.
Priestly uses dashes show that Mr Birling is on the back foot - shows that Birling still hasn’t learnt his lesson and tries to use money to buy his way out of the scandal.
Repetition of ‘thousands’ shows his persistent greed towards money, and the misuse of power. Priestly uses the dramatic irony of the fact that Birling would pay little then but now he has to pay high price to push his socialist message.

Question 6

(act 3 pg 65)

Answer 6

“The money’s not the important thing. It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters.”

phrase ‘money’s not the important thing’ shows Eric’s character progression - at the beginning of the play he tentatively disagrees with his father’s capitalist views but here he outright rejects them adopting a socialist line of thought.
The fact that Eric accepts his guilt shows that he accepts his responsibility – perhaps makes the audience more empathetic towards Eric.

Question 7

quotes

Answer 7

younger generations acceptance of responsibility
* (act 1 pg 23) - I’ve told my father – he didn’t seem to think it amounted to much – but I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse.

older generations denial of responsibility
* (act 1 pg 26) - Gerald: You don’t. Neither of us does. So – for god’s sake – don’t say anything to the inspector.
* (Act 2, pg 44) - “Unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of or that won’t bear investigation.”
* (Act 2, pg 48) - “Mrs B: find this young man and then make sure that he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility”.

end
* (act 3 pg 56) - Birling says ‘(unhappily) Look, Inspector – I’d give thousands – yes, thousands’.
* (act 3 pg 65) - “The money’s not the important thing. It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters.”