How does Priestley explore responsibility in An Inspector Calls?

The theme of responsibility is central to the play An Inspector Calls and through the
actions of the characters, Priestley demonstrates to the watching society that
everyone has a collective responsibility to each other in a successful and fair society.
Firstly the pompous and arrogant Mr. Birling begins by showing that he believes that
he has a responsibility to “his own” and no-one else. The pronoun “his” has an implied
ownership and this is central to his belief system of materialistic possession. He calls
socialists “cranks” and criticizes what they stand for as he wants nothing more than
“lower costs and higher prices.” This link to capitalism shows that Mr. Birling believes
his responsibility is to business and money making, and therefore he appears to be
quite callous and unfeeling in his attitudes towards people. The statement could
almost be seen as ironic as Birling is speaking in a purely monetary sense and yet
Priestley may also be trying to suggest that “lower costs” leads to the “higher price”
being human life.
The cost of caring only about money is demonstrated in Birling’s treatment of Eva
Smith who is viewed as “cheap labour” as opposed to a human being. This makes his a
very unlikeable character for an audience who have just lived through war and have
keenly experienced the loss of people and loved ones. However, as if to further
discredit all that Birling stands for, the use of dramatic irony in mentioning the
“unsinkable” Titanic and the idea that “the Germans don’t want war” shows that his
ideals are untrustworthy and, in fact, the audience should believe the very opposite of
this character. Birling refuses to take any responsibility in the death of Eva Smith and at
the end he is relieved, not to find out no-one has died, but because there will be no
“public scandal.” Priestley is highlighting these self-centred actions as a way of
demonstrating to the audience that the pre-war class system was flawed.
Mrs. Birling also holds similar values to her husband. When discovering her
involvement with the death she repeatedly blames the father of Eva’s child saying, “it’s
the father’s responsibility.” The fact that she is trying to blame others aligns her to the
same ideals as Mr. Birling, along with the use of dramatic irony again used to discredit
what she stands for. She is seemingly the only character not aware of the implication
towards her own son. This is interesting as Birling at the start stated his main
responsibility was to “his own” and yet both parents seem unaware of what this
means, and in many ways they have failed this responsibility both being linked to the
death of Eva and subsequently their own grandchild.