How responsibility works in the play
Responsibility is the idea the whole play is built to argue about, and Priestley makes it a straight fight between two views. On one side is Mr Birling's individualism: look after yourself and your own, and treat the rest as no concern of yours. On the other is the Inspector's socialism: we are all members of one body, responsible for each other. Everything that happens is designed to prove the Inspector right and Birling wrong.
Priestley builds his case through the chain of responsibility for Eva Smith's death. No single Birling killed her, but each did something small and selfish that pushed her closer to the edge, and together they destroyed her. That structure is the argument in action: it shows that when everyone looks after only themselves, the vulnerable are crushed by the combined weight of a hundred small cruelties. Because the play is in copyright, I quote short lines only; use your copy of the script for the full text.
Key responsibility quotes in An Inspector Calls
“a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”
Where: Mr Birling, Act 1The individualist creed the play sets out to defeat. 'His own' shows Birling's care stops at his family. Argue that Priestley places this selfishness just before the Inspector arrives, so the whole play becomes a rebuttal of it.
“We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other”
Where: the Inspector, Act 3The heart of Priestley's message. The image of 'one body' insists society is interconnected. Your single most important responsibility quote, and the direct answer to Birling's individualism.
“each of you helped to kill her. Remember that”
Where: the Inspector, Act 3The Inspector spreads the guilt across the whole family. 'Each of you' makes responsibility collective, not something anyone can shrug onto someone else. Use it for the chain of responsibility that structures the play.
“we all helped to kill her”
Where: Eric, Act 3Eric accepting collective responsibility in plain words. Argue that Priestley rewards the younger generation by letting them reach the Inspector's conclusion, unlike their parents who deny it.
“they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”
Where: the Inspector, Act 3The warning that closes the Inspector's sermon. To a 1945 audience it points at the two World Wars as the price of not learning responsibility. Argue that Priestley makes the theme urgent and prophetic, not just moral.
“I'll never, never do it again to anybody”
Where: Sheila, Act 1Personal responsibility genuinely accepted. Sheila does not excuse herself; she vows to change. Contrast her response with her parents' denial to show how Priestley divides the characters by whether they accept responsibility.
How responsibility develops across the play
The theme is set up before the Inspector even arrives. Mr Birling's dinner-table speeches lay out the selfish, every-man-for-himself philosophy, so the audience knows exactly what the play is arguing against. Then the Inspector enters and begins to dismantle it, forcing each character to face their part in Eva's death.
As the questioning goes on, the characters split. The younger generation, Sheila and Eric, accept responsibility and are changed by it. The older generation, Mr and Mrs Birling, and Gerald, deny it and look for ways to escape. The Inspector's final speech lifts the idea from one family to all of society, and then Priestley springs his twist: the family relax when they think the Inspector was fake, only for a real inspector to be announced. The message is clear. Responsibility cannot be dodged, and a second chance is coming for those willing to learn.
Using responsibility in the exam
Frame responsibility as a debate between two worldviews, Birling's individualism against the Inspector's collective responsibility, and show that Priestley builds the whole play to win that debate. Set 'a man has to mind his own business' directly against 'we are members of one body'. That single contrast can anchor an entire answer.
For a top-band point, connect the theme to Priestley's socialism and the 1945 context, arguing that the play is really a message to its post-war audience about the society they should build. Anchor the idea to people using the Inspector and Mr Birling pages, and gather the wider evidence on the key quotes page.
Revise responsibility alongside the play's other big ideas: class, which shapes who gets ignored, and gender, which shapes how Eva is used. See how they connect on the An Inspector Calls themes page and secure your lines with the key quotes page.