Everyone played a significant roll in this play and everyone acted irresponsibly especially Mrs Birling and Eric who basically finished her off. Eric raped her and got the girl pregnant and Mrs Birling was prejudiced against her and turned her down from the charity. The younger generation show regret that the older generation will not accept.
Eva is made to sound like quite a nice shy girl. She can just about make a living on the wages from Birling and Co. As she can only just make it through life she had a reason to start a strike for higher wages. She might not have been able to buy new clothes or luxury items.
She had no right to laugh at Sheila in Milwards (a rather famous and well thought of shop) if she actually was laughing at her but as there is no proof of that she got sacked as ordered by Sheila. This really put her in a depressed situation as it was like she had found a new home here and had now been kicked out because a good customer was in a bad mood.
She changed her name to Daisy Renton and was then rescued from a womaniser (Joe Maggarty) by the son of Sir George Croft, Gerald who was dating Sheila Birling. When he rescued her he brought her a drink and they talked. A few days later they met again by
arrangement and this time Gerald found out that she had no home as she’d been thrown out of her back room as she wasn’t paying the rent. He gave her the key to a hotel room which a friend had given to him to “look after”. He then kept forcing her to take money from him. This affair went on for a while but one day she knew it would have to stop and then it did. Gerald gave her enough money to last her for a few months. She went on holiday but came back after a while.
She then met Eric Birling when she had run out of money and they also met in the palace bar. Eric was drunk but she was quite tipsy as she had had very little food that day. Eric took her home and then raped her getting her pregnant which she couldn’t have avoided as Eric threatened her. They met again by accident in the palace bar and this time they talked and that was when Eric found out that she was pregnant. He stole money from his fathers office and tried to give it to her to support her and his child but she refused when she figured out it was stolen. She abandoned him and then went to a charity for help.
She told the head of the charity, Mrs Birling that her name was Mrs Birling as she was in a way engaged to Eric. Mrs Birling became prejudiced against her and didn’t believe another word she said as it was very difficult to believe. Although Daisy had told the truth all along Mrs Birling still refused her and told other staff to refuse her as well. No matter how much Eva begged it did no good against the ruthless Mrs Birling.
She could then think of nothing else to do but end this miserable world called life and did so by drinking some bleech and burning her insides out.
Mr Birling fired her from the job for a perfectly good reason but he could have raised the pay a little as the workers were only trying to get paid more so they could support or raise their family and he was being selfish trying to make as much money as he could. What interests me is that Eva is the only worker who gets fired in the script and all the other workers are basically forgiven so why didn’t Eva also get forgiven? He believes that people have to make their own way through life and support family. He will not accept any responsibility as he is very stubborn and feels his way to run a business is the right way
Sheila was very stuck up and nasty until she knew that the death of Eva was partly her fault as she could have been more sympathetic and ask why she was laughing as Eva sounds like a very nice person. Sheila had no right either for taking out her anger on Eva and should have waited until she had cooled down a bit before taking any action. Although she did what she did Sheila accepts that she helped to kill Eva.
Gerald did nothing to her except upsetting her about his leaving. Although she said she wasn’t upset its pretty obvious that she was upset as anyone is when a close friend leaves. She was definitely happy with him as he gave her the keys to a hotel room a friend had given to him to look after. And she was still happy for a long time and went on a relaxing holiday with the money that Gerald kept giving her.
This helped her live for another few years because without the help of Gerald she probably would have committed suicide a lot sooner. Gerald shows a little regret when he first starts to confess but goes on a walk to clear his head. On his walk he meet the chief inspector and asks if he had an Inspector Goole on the police force. The chief tells Gerald he doesn’t and from then on Gerald thinks and acts like nothing has happened even about his affair with Eva and thinks he can get back together with Sheila.
Eric and Mrs Birling acted kind of like a team and both did similar things to her which slowly pointed her in the direction of suicide.
Eric bought her a few drinks and made himself sound like a nice chap. But when he walked her home he threatened to beat her if she didn’t let him in and in a way raped her which she couldn’t do a lot about. They also met again like Gerald and Eva but they didn’t arrange it. They talked like Gerald and Eva did and that was when Eric found out that she was carrying his child and tried forcing her to take stolen money but she soon found out that the money was stolen. When she learned about this she left him. Eric regrets what he did and hates his mother for killing his child and his sister for telling his mother about his drinking habits.
Mrs Birling turned Eva down as soon as she had called herself Mrs Birling which prejudiced her against Eva and she didn’t believe anything else she told her and as Mrs Birling’s in charge she ordered all other staff there to ignore her as well. She is very shocked to hear that Eric was the father who was steeling money and thought that since Eric is her son he shouldn’t be made an example of as she told the inspector to do to the father when he found out who it was. She shows great regret about killing her grandchild but didn’t seem bothered at all that she had killed Eva. She thought it was perfectly reasonable to turn down Eva once she called herself Mrs Birling.
I think that Eric and Mrs Birling who forced her to commit suicide. I cannot decide who was to blame the most out of these 2. Mrs Birling turned her down when she most needed it and Eric put her into the state where she needed help the most. I would blame Mrs Birling the most as she had the power to give her a better life and Eric was drunk when he raped her so he couldn’t really it.
