
Who is to blame for Eva Smith’s death?
Eric (Mr Birling’s son), was to blame for Eva Smith’s death in a big way. He accidentally impregnated her, which was to effect her drastically, because Eric just like Gerald cowards off, leaving her money, stolen from Mr Birling’s company.
How did Eva Smith die in EastEnders?
Eric (Mr Birling’s son), was to blame for Eva Smith’s death in a big way. He accidentally impregnated her, which was to effect her drastically, because Eric just like Gerald cowards off, leaving her money, stolen from Mr Birling’s company. Eric’s involvement was before Eva asked Mrs Birling and her organisation for help.
How did Eva Die in the engagement dinner?
Eva's death would be recorded as suicide as she drank disinfectant, but she was driven to suicide by the actions of all of the guests at the engagement dinner which the inspector interrupts. The inspector sums up the effect that each person had to lead to Eva's death, and gives the characters and the audience a clear moral to the story:
Who is Eva Smith and why is she important?
We never meet Eva Smith during the course of the play, but she is a very important character. It is her death that is the cause of the Inspector’s investigation which in turn drives the drama.

What happened to Eva Smith in Inspector Calls?
Sheila Birling and Eva Smith The Inspector explains that Eva Smith had no family to turn to and was out of work for two months after being sacked by Mr Birling. He then turns his attention to Sheila who has been deeply affected by the news of the girl's suicide.
Who is to blame for Eva Smith's death?
Mrs Birling is also held responsible for the death of Eva Smith in various different ways. She is selfish as she won't accept any blame for it, and once again, she is also doing the same as Mr Birling. She is taking the two generations and differentiating then according to how responsibilities are taken.
What did Arthur do to Eva Smith?
The Inspector tells Sheila that a girl named Eva Smith, aged twenty-four, has killed herself, and Sheila is appalled to hear it. Sheila is also shocked to learn that Arthur fired Eva after the strike. The Inspector begins questioning Sheila, who says she does not know anyone named Eva Smith.
What does Eva Smith's death represent?
The gruesome death of Eva in turn, shows the horrific truth of how all working class people are treated and exploited by capitalism therefore providing the audience with the idea that anyone and everyone could be an 'Eva smith' within a violent conflicted society which cares only for profit.
What does the ending of An Inspector Calls mean?
The inspector has been reading her diary and takes her picture giving them the opportunity to act before the suicide in her diary becomes a fact. The older people are lost. Unfortunately Eric is not able to get there in time to make a crucial difference.
Is the inspector a ghost in An Inspector Calls?
It can definitely be interpreted that he is a supernatural figure because of his name: Goole. This is generally seen as a homophone for ghoul which is another word for a ghost. His name is Inspector Goole, which initially sounds rather like a ghostly figure.
How does Sheila react to EVAS death?
Sheila Birling At the start of the play she is celebrating her engagement to Gerald Croft and she is a giddy, naïve and childish young lady. The Inspector arrives and she is very shocked by the news of Eva Smith's death, she is also very regretful of her own involvement in the suicide.
Why did Sheila get Eva fired?
Sheila is shown the photograph and realises that she had Eva Smith sacked from her next job as a shop assistant, because she thought Eva Smith laughed at her. The Inspector reveals that Eva Smith changed her name to Daisy Renton.
Why was Eva Smith fired from Milwards?
Eva got fired from Milwards After a silly misunderstanding with Eva, Sheila Birling (a regular customer who had a family account at the store) used her influences to get the young girl fired. Sheila later admitted that the real reason was because she was jealous.
What did Eric do to Eva?
It turns out that Eric had an affair with Eva Smith and that she was pregnant with Eric's baby when she committed suicide. Eric stole money from his father's business to help Eva. In the final act Eric makes an emotional attack on his parents and their values and shows that he can be assertive.
Who killed Eva in Inspector Calls?
He tells them how a girl called Eva Smith has killed herself by drinking disinfectant - he wants to ask them some questions. The Inspector reveals that the girl used to work in Arthur Birling's factory and he had her sacked for going on strike.
What did Gerald Do to Eva?
Gerald says that he arranged for Eva/Daisy to live at a friend's apartment in town while the friend was away for business. Gerald maintains that he did not initially support the girl in order to have an affair, but she did become his mistress. Their affair lasted for some months.
Why is Eric to blame for Eva Smith's death?
In conclusion, Eric is partly to blame for Eva's death as he got her pregnant and asked her to take stolen money. However, he is not completely to blame as other things contributed as well - Mr Birling turning her out, Mrs Birling being prejudice and Eva herself for not accepting the only help she could get.
How is Sheila responsible for Eva's death?
What does Sheila do? Sheila shows real emotion when she hears that a young woman has died. She was responsible for getting Eva Smith fired from her job in the dress shop.
How did Mr Birling contribute to Eva's death?
Birling is partly to blame for the death of Eva Smith because after she came back from her holiday and went on strike Mr. Birling fired her. 'And so was the strike.
Who killed Eva in An Inspector Calls?
Each one of the Birling family (including Gerald Croft) pushed Eva Smith that extra bit closer to killing herself, but no one person was individually responsible for her death.
How did Eva die?
Eva's death would be recorded as suicide as she drank disinfectant, but she was driven to suicide by the actions of all of the guests at the engagement dinner which the inspector interrupts. The inspector sums up the effect that each person had to lead to Eva's death, and gives the characters and the audience a clear moral to the story:
Why was Eva Smith fired?
Eva Smith is killed by the selfishness of others. She was dismissed from her first job at Birlings for protestsing for worker's rights, then sacked from her job at Milwards at the whim of Sheila Birling. She loses her virtue to the predatory but weak Gerald Croft and becomes pregnant by the spineless Eric Birling. Then she is refused help and support by Mrs Birling's charity committee.
Why did Eva die?
Eva died two hours before the inspector came. She died because she drank a lot of “strong disinfectant” which burnt her “inside out”. Inspector Goole goes to the Birling’s house to confront each one of them and place responsibility on them. Though the inspector does not tell us it, it is quite obvious that he is there not to find the “main culprit” but instead he is there to make the Birling’s see through somebodies eyes of the Lower “class” and feel some “responsibility”.
Who played a part in Eva's death?
Each and every one of them, Mr Birling, Sheila, Gerald, Mrs Birling and Eric, all played a part in Eva’s death and the inspector wants them to realise this and accept responsibility. Mr Birling holds the big responsibility of starting the whole thing, and he was the first to turn Eva away. Eva Smith was working at “the Works” which Mr Birling owned. She had been working in one of the “machine shops” for over year and she was a “good worker”. She was about to be promoted to a “leading operator” which was a person who was the “head” of a small group of girls.
Why did Mrs Birling refuse to accept responsibility for Eva Smith's death?
Eva was refused help and was turned down once again apart from this was the last time. Mrs Birling refused to accept responsibility because she feel she’s did nothing wrong and only Eva had “herself to blame”. In conclusion I feel everyone is equally responsible for the death of Eva Smith. Even if alone each thing each person did to Eva didn’t affect her too greatly, together they caused the death of two people, Eva and her unborn child.
Why did Eva change her name to Mrs Birling?
This put Eva into a very sticky situation because the money she had was not going to last her long and she was now going to have a baby to support as well. Eric wished that he could have done more and he accepted responsibility. However this did push Eva even further towards her end. Mrs Birling was the final person to turn Eva down and the one who finally pushed her over the edge. After running out of money, Eva decided to go to the Brumley Woman’s Charity for help. Eva was on her final straw and changed her name to “Mrs Birling” after Eric.
Why did the Birling family drive Eva into depression?
The Birling family must have driven Eva so far into depression that Eva believed that there was no point of her child being born and have to live the life she did. However it may seem obvious that it was the Birling family that was mainly to blame for the death of Eva Smith, but if you look into the background of the novella it is actually the Birling’s social “class you need to blame. This is because people of the Middle Class in 1912 looked down on the Lower Class and treated them harshly just as they did with Eva. Moreover I believe this is who J B Priestly is trying to blame but he has portrayed it through the Birling family.
Why did Eva die?
One of the reasons why Eva died was because of the dismissive attitudes of families like the Birlings and their remoteness from the working class. Reading the play now or when it was written gives us the benefit of hindsight on the time the play was set. Arthur Birling’s certainty that war would never come.
Who wrote the paper Why Did Eva Smith Kill Herself?
This paper example is written by Benjamin, a student from St. Ambrose University with a major in Management . All the content of this paper consists of his personal thoughts on Why Did Eva Smith Kill Herself and his way of presenting arguments and should be used only as a possible source of ideas and arguments.
Did Gerald have an affair with Eva?
It is revealed that Gerald had an affair with Eva the previous summer. He met her in a bar of ill repute, being harassed by another respectable man. When he found out that Eva had no money and was living in a “miserable back room”, he felt compelled to be the hero and let her stay in one of his friend’s houses. They had fallen in love, but, inevitably, it had not lasted. Not only were there the differences in social class and power but Gerald was involved with Sheila as well. To end his affair with Eva, Gerald had given her some money and she went away to “some seaside place”.
What does Eva Smith show?
Eva Smith shows that she is strong willed when she organises a strike for higher wages. This shows that she is not afraid to stand up to 'hard-headed' business men like Mr Birling. Birling: "...she'd been working in one of our machine shops for over a year. A good worker too.
Who is Eva Smith in Inspector Calls?
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton in An Inspector Calls. We never meet Eva Smith during the course of the play, but she is a very important character. It is her death that is the cause of the Inspector’s investigation which in turn drives the drama. The audience learns about Eva through the Inspector, who has read a letter and a diary she kept.
How do we learn about Eva?
The audience learns about Eva through the Inspector, who has read a letter and a diary she kept. They also learn about her through the characters she came into contact with. A lot of the information about her is inferred - from the incident at Mr Birling’s factory we can infer that she was strong willed. From her interaction with Sheila the audience can see that Eva had a sense of humour. Her relationship with Gerald, when she changed her name to Daisy Renton, reveals her sensitivity. By the time she reaches Eric and Sybil, Eva is desperate and resourceful in trying to get herself help.
What does the diary Eva kept after her affair with Gerald end show?
The diary Eva kept after her affair with Gerald ended shows that she felt emotions very deeply and the audience empathises with her as a result. Inspector: "She kept a rough sort of diary. And she said there that she had to go away and be quiet and remember 'just to make it last longer'.
