reponsisbility
In AIC, Responsibility the most prominent theme in the play.Priestley conveys the importance of social responsibility through the the harsh effect of the Birling’s irresponsible behaviour on Eva Smith.
Towards the start of the play, Priestley reminds his audience of the Capitalist ideology of self-responsibility, but criticises its selfish nature
- ‘Every man has to look after himself and his family’ capitalist idea of every man for himself, reflexive ‘himself’ showing ideas of selfishness, possessive proud
- Upper class’ rejection of social responsibility, through Birling’s intolerance ‘like bees in a hive-community and that nonsense’- comparing to bees implies that it is primitive and demeaning
- Dramatic irony causes the audience to disagree with this view
Through the immoral actions of the Birlings, Priestley exposes the upper class’ irresponsibility towards the lower classes- perhaps to imply that hatred of social responsibility comes from classist views
- Mr B believes that it is his ‘duty to keep labour costs down’, reveals his rejection of social – higher profits will only benefit him (selfish), the well-being of his workers does not matter , the noun ‘duty’ revealing that he feels that it is his responsibility
- Mrs B – as a ‘prominent woman’ of the woman’s charity, she fails in her duty by neglecting Eva, perhaps revealing how conventional ideas social responsibility are corrupt and influenced by classist views
Priestley explores the effect of lack of social responsibly through Eva’s suffering
- ‘burnt her inside out, of course’- his use of shocking graphic imagery reveals the truth about the lower class’ suffering, dysphemism contrasts the Birling’s euphemism to trivialise suffering/their actions, heightening their guilt.
- ‘The girl killed herself. But each of you helped to kill her’ – reminds the Birlings that they were all collectively responsible for Eva’s death
Older Birlings seem immature through their inability to take responsibility of their actions
-‘your mother and I had every reason to do what we did- it turned out unfortunately, that’s all ’- justifies his actions, fails to take responsibility in what he has done adverb ‘unfortunately’ creates the impression that it was just his luck, while ‘that’s all’ trivializes Eva’s hardships , directly contrasting the inspectors works about collective responsibility
This contrasts the younger Birlings-
-‘The fact remains that I did what I did’- expresses genuine remorse embraces responsibility, making him seem my empathetic
Does this to show that some people (especially the narrow minded arrogant elderly) are unwilling to accept social responsibility because of being indoctrinated into capitalist ideologies, but that the youth can behave responsibly
Through Inspector, Priestley conveys his views of social responsibility as being vital to end suffering
- Inspector’s final didactic manifesto – ‘we are all responsible for each other’- ideas of social responsibilities
- ‘if men will not learn that lesson they will be taught it in blood and fire and anguish’- the syndetic list of blood and fire and anguish may be a reference to both War and hellfire- in the Birling’s case, no change induced two wars, creating fear in the audience that there may be another one if people continue behaving irresponsibly
Wealth and materialism
similar to class
In AIC Priestley criticises the fact that wealth and materialism are main interests of a capitalist society , by revealing its immense effect on a person’s lifestyle and power and society and how it encourages dehumanisation and exploitation of the lower classes
In the stage directions and the start of the play, Priestley suggest how obsession for material wealth can lead to people not being able to care and form good relationships with each other
- ‘prosperous’ household but not ‘homelike and cozy’- reveals a lack of domestic relationships between the characters, perhaps as a result caring more about wealth than love and intimacy
- ‘you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on business- captures the workaholic nature capitalism and greed creates- men (the stereotypical money makers of the household) spend most of their time making money as suggested by the quantifier ‘all’, leaving little time for love and relationships, implying Mr and Mrs B’s poor relationships
Priestley criticises how upper class children are indoctrinated into having a materialistic and superficial view of the world through Sheila’s acceptance of the ring.
-now I really feel married’ Gerald - superficial, viewing the ring as determining whether she feels ‘married’ or not
By positioning
By establishing parallels between and Sheila, Priestley explores the detrimental effects wealth has on the lives of people.
-Sheila is ‘in her early twenties’ and unmarried like Eva, albeit from a wealthier family- which allows her to be ‘ pleased with life’ and is able to freely spend money, while people like Eva are left ‘counting their pennies in their dingy little back bedrooms’- clearly worse conditions.
Priestley also criticises how desire for wealth can lead to selfish and wreckless behaviour
-the true incentives of Gerald and Sheila’s marriage ‘lower costs and higher profits’
-’come down on some of these people sharply, they’d soon be asking for the earth- exaggeration reveals his view of the lower classes are greedy- ironic in the light of his own greed, ‘sharply’ emphasizes his strict nature in keeping costs down for higher profits, suppressing the lower classes, hyperbolic
Priestley critiques the progression system in capitalism (you need to be a ‘hardheaded’ businessman, every man for himself) desire for wealth encourages selfishness and wreck less
-Too ‘heavy’ a ‘price’ contrasted with the ‘heavy price’ Eva had to pay suggesting how greed blinds people from seeing other peoples needs and suffering
Priestley also recognises how wealth for survival vital to society, but that money cannot solve everything.
- Gerald ‘insisted on a parting gift’ of ‘money’,Eric ‘insisted on giving her money to keep her going- both men use money to try and help Eva- they cannot offer love, support or kindness- reducing her to an object that they can throw money at.
- Mr Birling ‘I’d give thousands- yes thousands’ – possession of money encourages corruption, but paying won’t reverse his or his family’s actions
- Inspectors says that she needs ‘not only money, but advice, sympathy, friendliness’- asyndetic listing of her other needs highlight that money not the only thing needed to make a good life.
Does this to deflect his audience from money-orientated capitalism as they realise that money isn’t the only import thing in life.
Exploitation
The theme of exploitation runs throughout the play both through the Birlings’ exploitation of Eva smith serving as a microcosm for the exploitation of the working class and the upper class’ exploitation of power that can have a detrimental effect on society.
Priestley criticizes the exploitation of labour in a capitalist society as a whole through Birling’s exploitation of his workings, including Eva for cheap labour.
-‘we’ve several hundred young women there, y’know and they keep changing’- verb ‘changing ‘ reveals that his labour force keeps changing- these people do not have job security, possibly to keep costs down to employ workers who are willing to pay for less, the vague term ‘several hundred’ removes their identity- they are just resources for a business to him. ‘Women’ could be given lower wages then men so were a good target for capitalist endeavours.
Priestley highlights how these low wages as a result of their exploitation only perpetuated their poverty
‘There are a lot of young girls living that sort of existence in every city…if there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour’- conveys that the businesses relied on the suffering of the lower classes ‘for lower costs’ to survive, ‘young girls’ bring the most stereotypically vulnerable in society are used by these factories as ‘cheap labour’, determiner ‘ever’ exposes the universality of this exploitation.By paying them low wages, the businesses leave them in desperate situates so they they have to accept lower wages to survive
Priestley also exposes the upper class’ sexual exploitation of lower women
- Gerald ‘insisted her’- the verb implying that he forced her, he had intentions of making her his mistress
- Eric’s rape
Priestley also reveals the exploitation of power having a detrimental effect on the lowers
- Shiela used her power as the daughter of a respected businessman to get Eva fired
- Mrs B’s exploitation- ‘so I used my influence to have her case rejected’
Gender
In AIC, gender is shown to have a large impact on how the people behave and are treated by society, and by doing this Priestley conveys how gender stereotypes actively prevent society from progressing.
Towards the start of the play, Priestley explores the effect of gender roles within Birling’s patriarchal household
Priestley explores the behavior and lifestyle of a stereotypical upper class woman through Mrs B
- ‘when you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on their business.You’ll have to get used to that, just as I did’-the phrase ‘just as I did’ suggests that this is tradition and how things should be, while ‘important work’ suggest that she she’s the men as the money makes, ‘adjective ‘important’ implies that she accepts that men are superior
- she references her husbands postions as ‘Lord Mayor only two years agi’ – she doesn’t have her own identity or or power- her status was dependant in her husbands position
Sheila represents the result of upbringing as an upper class female
- Use of childish colloquialisms’mummy’ and ‘daddy’ reveals her immaturity -
- ‘oh I wish you never told me’- the lack of ‘morbid curiosity’, protection of females leads to ignorance
Explores Sheila as an unconventional female-allegory for woman’s suffrage
- ‘hysterical’ behaviour seems very feminine, ‘in a furious temper’ – unable to control her emotion
- but she is able to speak more (str) and does so somewhat confidently ‘half serious, half playful’ – conflicting assertiveness and inability to be completely outspoken due to being a woman
- later she is no longer restraining, ‘why- you fool- he knows.Of course he knows’- shocking to call her fiancé a ‘fool’ in a patriarchal society, challenging his dominance and intelligence
- ‘she looks at him almost in triumph.He looks crushed’- shift in power, empowering the female in the relationship
- ‘hands him over the ring’ rejection of ownership of her
Eva represents the exploitation of women (especially lower class) society
‘There are a lot of young girls living that sort of existence in every city…if there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour’- emotional use of the adjective ‘young’ reveals how even the most stereotypically vulnerable people in society ‘young women’ are exploitated for cheap labour.This is because women could be paid lower wages than men.
-Gerald ‘insisted her’- the verb implying that he forced her, he had intentions of making her his mistress
Mr Birling represents the patriarchal head of his family who views women as objects
- Structural talks a lot representing his power in the household
- ‘she’ll make you happy,’ alludes told the belief that Sheila’s role if to please her her husband.She is like a gift to Gerald, in order to build a relationship between crofts and birling and co for ‘lower costs and higher prices’
- “young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things”- Mr B’s selfish hypocrisy revealed- this clearly is not the case with what he does to his workers
Gerald and Eric saw Eva as a possession-
- Eric claims ‘She was pretty and a good sport’ – valued for a her looks, sport makes her seem like entertainment
- Gerald “set her up as his mistress and then dropped her when it suited him” - verbs ‘set up’ and ‘dropped’ portray Eva as an object
However, they show emotions, which may seem hysterical, but Priestley does this to show that emotion is needed for people to empathise therefore see the need for change
- ‘[involuntarily] my god!’
- ‘sorry- Ive suddenly realised-…- she is dead
generations
In AIC, Priestley utilises the generations all people, old or young, have had the capacity to cause harm to society, but through their reformation, show that the youth, the future of society, can become harbingers of change fr society
Towards the start of the play, both the generations of the family occupy the same role as the traditional, ignorant and complacent upper class.
Sheila -” very pleased with life” - this view of life is derived from her sheltered upbringing as an upper-class woman, leaving her ignorant to the suffering of others. She didn’t have to go through the hardship, and suffering like other lower class women must go through the verb ‘pleased’ suggest complacency
Mrs Birling - “You will have to get used to that – just as I had” - upholding patriarchal norms.
Mr Birling – talks a lot being the patriarch of the family- further upholding patriarchal norms
“Now you three young people, just listen to this - and remember what I’m telling you now,”- talks with certainty and a patronising tone imperatives ‘listen ‘and remember, reveal how the younger generations were indoctrinated by the older generations, Birling sees himself as a teacher, proud of himself, and so wants to advise the younger generations
“By Jove, yes. And as you were saying, Dad, a man has to look after himself -” – Eric is keen to follow his father, as does Gerald (between younger and older generation)
However, the change within the younger generation is subtly suggested at this point in the play
- ‘the things you girls pick up these days’ temporal phrase ‘these days’- subtly suggest changing society, not fully indoctrinated into capitalist ideologies which allows her to change- simultaneously shows Mrs B’s belief in traditional femininity
- ‘but what about war?’- Eric is able to question his father’s views, though not yet able to fully challenge his father’s authority
However the inspector’s arrival is shown to have a profound effect, splitting the generations apart
The younger generation are shown to be more empathetic than the older generations
- ‘[involuntarily] my god!’ - Genuinely shocked and concerned demonstrating that he has a morale nature , may be seen as feminine hysteria through the adverb stage direction, but makes the reader realise that emotions are needed to empathise.
- ‘oh- how horrible’- genuine emotion but clearly an understatement (poor lexicon/euphemism in household) feminine hysteria,.
- sorry- Ive suddenly realised-…- she is dead’ – delayed reaction but syncopated revealing true shock and overwhelming emotion (internal conflict within Gerald, with his attempts to control natural emotion as it may seem feminine- but is needed for empathising and change)
In contrast, Mrs B and Mr B show no empathy-
-‘Girls of that sort’ -determiner ‘that’ shows disdain, dehumanisation and generalisation that the lower classes achieve nothing and end up committing suicide
Conflict Is shown in the contrasting ideologies between the generations-
- Birling–’come down on some of these people sharply, they’d soon be asking for the earth- exaggeration reveals his view of the lower classes are greedy- ironic in the light of his own greed
- Eric-‘Why shouldn’t they ask for higher wages- we try for the highest priced’- logical argument to his father- confidence and empathy towards Eva which allows his reformation, ‘they’ utilised to eliminate the class barrier, in contrast to the older Birling’s use of the pronoun ‘they’and ‘them’
- Sheila - ‘but these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people’ - empathizes with them, embraces socialism
- Gerald-Justifies Birling’s actions ‘yes I think you were’- showing his capitalist ideologies, although he does later show remorse
Towards the end of the play, Priestley demonstrates the older generations as being stubborn and resistant to change, while the ‘impressionable’ youth are able to reform
Older generations fail to take responsibility and show change
–Birling justifies what he and Mrs. b have done (your mother and I had every reason to do what we did), seeming childish in not taking the blame
- “Now look at the pair of them - the famous younger generation who know it all. And they can’t even take a joke,”- insensitive humour, sees eva’s death as a joke.
- Gerald- ‘how about this ring Sheila’ demonstrates his lack of remorse, acting like nothing has happened- Priestley does tis to show that some people have empathy towards the poor but choose to behave the way they do to preserve their social status.
- Sheila and eric recognise the inspectors message, and have reformed - Sheila ‘I suppose that we are all good people now’ - sarcastic disapproval of Gerald + older Birling’s lack of remorse contrasting the younger Birling’s, Eric- ‘The fact remains that I did what I did’- expresses genuine remorse embraces responsibility
Priestly does this to show that the youth, the future of society, can bring change.
