Responsibility Flashcards
(5 cards)
Why is responsibility significant in the play?
One way the theme of Responsibility is significant in An Inspector Calls is because it is used to
- highlight the clear divide between the younger/older generation and their behaviours and attitudes
- It also illustrates how one of them tries to avoid blame, while the other fully accepts responsibility.
Example 1
Towards the end of Act 3 when they discover there was no real inspector and a girl hadn’t died
“Well isn’t it? We’ve been had, that’s all”
“….We can all go on behaving just as we did”
“You began to learn something. And now you’ve stopped. You’re ready to go on in the same old way”
“(amused)And you’re not, eh?”
-responsibility is something that everyone needs to accept and is used to prove Mr and Mrs Birling’s immaturity
- Sheila and Eric want to accept responsibility
- Mr and Mrs Birling refuse, their opinion is that they can go on the way they were before
- they think that there is no harm in carrying on the way they were before
Example 2
Eric’s monologue after they discover that there was no inspector Goole
“the fact remains that I did what I did”
“(as Birling tries to interrupt)I don’t care, let him know. The money’s not the important thing. It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters. And I still feel the same about it, and that’s why I don’t feel like sitting down and have a nice cosy talk”
“And Eric’s absolutely right.”
- demonstrates the key concept of responsibility
- highlights Eric’s sudden change in attitude towards taking responsibility for his actions, and also the contrast between his parent’s attitudes compared to his and Sheila’s
Even when Mr Birling attempts to stop Eric from telling Gerald about the stolen money, Eric ignores him and, unlike his father, isn’t afraid of what Gerald might think of him. This highlights how the younger generations here are more focused on taking responsibility and actually acting like good, moral people, rather than just trying to appear like that.
Example 3
“(distressed) Eric, I can’t believe it. There must be some mistake. You don’t know what we’ve been saying”
“But I didn’t know it was you - I never dreamt. Besides you’re not the type - you don’t get drunk”
- Mrs Birling is trying to defend Eric by stopping him from accepting responsibility.
- means Eric can’t accept responsibility even if he wants to and draws on the views from earlier that Eric and Sheila are children and can’t do anything for themselves.
- also proving that Mrs Birling doesn’t want anyone to accept responsibility as she is still trying to prove that they are all innocent to uphold their social image, while Eric and Sheila don’t care whether they will suffer socially or not
Example 4
Responsibility as a parent of Mr Birling and the dynamics and tensions between the two
