Eric Change In An Inspector Calls Essay

How and why does Eric change in An Inspector Calls?

‘It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did that matters’. In this essay, I am going to discuss how various characters influenced how and why Eric changed over the course of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’. He lost all respect for his parents, and they stop respecting him. This contrasts to Shelia and Eric, who end up mutually respecting each other by the end of the play. The character who learns the most from Inspector Goole’s investigation is Eric, as evidenced by his regret towards Eva’s suicide.

Eric’s attitude towards various characters changes over the course of the play. At the beginning, Eric and Shelia appear to have a fairly typical sibling relationship with Eric’s obvious drunkenness- ‘Eric suddenly guffaws’ obviously exasperating Shelia- ‘You’re squiffy’, who had been so thrilled to be celebrating her engagement party. By the end of the play, Eric and Shelia have improved their relationship with each other, as Eric starts to agree with Shelia ‘she’s right’, and vice versa, ‘Eric’s absolutely right’. However, they both lost a great deal of trust in their relationship with their parents. Both Eric and Shelia agree with the Inspector that ‘we are all responsible for each

When she finds out about Eric’s involvement with Eva and how he stole money from his father, she tells him ‘I’m absolutely ashamed of you’. Eric is furious with his mother for unknowingly killing her grandchild and Eva, and he is ‘nearly at breaking point’ when he yells at his mother ‘damn you, damn you’. This shows how devastated he is at not only his child and Eva’s death, but also Eric’s realisation that Eva and his child could have lived if his mother had not behaved so