7/24/2019 Inspector Calls GCSE Essay

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In An Inspector Calls, the words responsible and responsibility are uttered at

least once by everyone in the play. The defnition o responsibility is the state o

being accountable or to blame or something. esponsibility is a !ey theme or ".

#. $riestly and he was incredibly interested in the personal responsibility

everybody shares in society. Around the time An Inspector Calls was written, the

%econd &orld &ar had 'ust ended. There was a di(erent outloo! on lie in

)ngland and women were much more respected in society while the country was

the beginning to get bac! on its eet. It was written in the hindsight o the

%econd &orld &ar and was set in nineteen twelve when the theme o

responsibility was more important than ever and the person who realises this

most by the end o the play is %heila.

*r #irling reuses to accept responsibility or his actions throughout the play. +e

is very ignorant with his opinions, especially those about the ermans and the

-ais. +e says nobody wants war which is his opinion as though it is act and is

a good use o dramatic irony in the orm o a dramatic declarative. +e also saysa man has to ma!e his own way / he has to loo! ater himsel 0 and his amily

too 0 o course. This shows *r #irling doesn1t care about other people1s

problems and that he has his own problems to worry about, such as his

2nighthood. &hen the Inspector does arrive, *r #irling acts with impatience and

no remorse to what is revealed about )va 0 in act, he acts rather cruelly and

smugly. +e goes on to say And then 3)va4 got hersel into trouble, I suppose.

+e says this in 5uite a sarcastic manor, using the pronoun hersel to shit the

blame, which he does an awul lot. +e tells )ric, his own son, you1re the one I

blame or this and even deends himsel, stating there is every e6cuse or what

I did.

erald begins by eeling very responsible but soon descends into relie instead o

guilt. +e shares *r #irling1s capitalist views which show who he is, as a person.

&hen the Inspector arrives he begins by eeling uneasy and tells %heila we can

!eep it rom 3the Inspector.4 This shows that there was a stage o guilt but it

probably stemmed rom emotional reactions caused by )va rather than or what

he actually did. +e is described with the ad'ective distressed and he begins to

understand what he did when he fnally he says 1I1ve suddenly realised7 she1s

dead. $erhaps because o this emotional attachment he is the frst to 5uestion

the Inspector stating we1ve been had. It was probably to shit away the

responsibility and due to this he tries to amend it with a proposal.

*rs #irling is incredibly di(erent to her children and is much more li!e her

husband when it comes to accepting responsibility. %he starts the play very

motherly and trying to discipline her adult children, however she struggles to

maintain this image throughout the play. %he says I did nothing I1m ashamed o

and blames )ric unintentionally, stating loo! or the ather o the child. It1s his

responsibility. This is a use o two strong, dramatic declaratives. %he shows her

sel/righteous attitude with the reusal to accept any blame. )ven ater the

Inspector is revealed to be a hoa6 she still tells everyone I did no more than my

duty, with a strong emphasis on the noun duty.

7/24/2019 Inspector Calls GCSE Essay

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)ric is the most reormed at the end o the play and gains a much more

responsible attitude. +e begins by acting noisy and childish, yelling

8involuntary9 *y od: This shows his drun!enness. +e is the frst to stand up

against his ather saying why shouldn1t 3the wor!ers4 try or higher wages; 7

I1d have let 3)va4 stay. +e slowly becomes more remorseul beore he fnds out

what his mother did and he begins to blame her, telling her then you !illed

3)va4 and the child she1d have too. #y the end o the play he sides with his

sister, telling his parents I1m ashamed o you, using the ad'ective o

ashamed to really emphasise how he eels. +e also understand that even ater

the Inspector is revealed to be a hoa6, that everyone has responsibility,

regardless whether the Inspector is real or not by saying 3)va4 is dead and we

all helped !ill her.

The Inspector is almost the voice o ". #. $riestly and his thoughts o

responsibility. +e is very harsh with the #irling amily and is very symbolic o

their guilt. +e is wor!s through the amily very systematically. The theme oresponsibility is most apparent when he states we are responsible or each

other. +e also uses verbs such as fre and blood and anguish which is a

semantic feld o war which lin!s to the %econd &orld &ar.

%heila eels the most responsible or )va1s death and she accepts that. %he starts

o( rather childishly calling her parents mummy and daddy which could be

seen as 5uite odd or a woman o her age. The Inspector tells her about her

involvement with )va1s death and she says she eels rotten about it and, uses

the ad'ective and the adverb, desperately sorry. %he says I started it which

isn1t even correct as *r #urling was the man who started the chain/reaction o

events which leads to )va1s death. %he is very sincere and says that she is

ashamed and then she fnds out the Inspector was a hoa6 she sarcastically

says I suppose we1re all nice people now, which shows her disgust.

The character who accepts the most responsibility by the end o the play is

%heila even though she could be deemed as the least responsible. )ric receives

the blame rom his parents and even though erald elt the guiltiest he ends up

the least distressed.