Themes

Responsibility
Love
Politics/society
Morality
Power

IRONY Birling sacked Eva Smith for showing qualities of leadership and voicing her
opinions, the same qualities for which he was earlier prepared to promote her. The
Inspector makes her case and he is sympathetic towards her. Look at Mr bIrlings big
speech in Act One for other examples of dramatic irony, e.g. the Titanic is unsinkable.

SOCIETY there is a contrast between the comfortable life of the Birlings and the poor,
horrid life Eva Smith was forced to live because of the actions of the Birlings.

MORALITY The older characters only APPEAR to be respectable. They have no real
sense of morality or right and wrong.

POLITICAL VIEW The point is made that we share a responsibility for what happens in
society, we have a duty to care for others. J. B. Priestley was a socialist! He wants us to
think about are we any better than the Birlings?

RESPONSIBILITY Mr Birling feels responsible to make a success of his business. He
feels responsible in providing material needs for the family, yet Eric cannot turn to him
when he is in trouble. He does not accept responsibility for Evas death.
- Mrs Birling accepts responsibility as chairwoman of the Womens Charity
Organisation but only to those she thinks are deserving of help. She
doesnt accept responsibility for Evas death.
- Gerald backs up Birling and says hed have done the same thing about the
strike. Gerald showed some responsibility when he rescued Eva but he
gave into his lust. He abandoned her when it suited him.
- Sheila Birling accepted that she was partly responsible for Evas death.
- Eric Birling has little sense of responsibility in terms of how he treated her
in their relationship, e.g. he was drunk, threatened her and then took
advantage of her. He stole money from his father to support her but he
does realise he is partly to blame for the suicide but he does seem to
feel very sorry for himself, rather than her.
TASK 1 - Find quotes for each character to show if they feel responsible or not and write
them on the character quote diagrams.

POWER Mr Birling abuses his power when he fires Eva to make an example of her. He
also shows he is going to abuse his position again when he says he will cover up Erics
mistakes.
- Mrs Birling abuses her power when she refuses Eva help because she
offends her.
- Sheila abuses her power as a valued customer and forces the
management of Milwards to fire Eva.
- Gerald abuses his power when he sets Eva up in an apartment and takes
advantage of her when she falls for him.
- Eric abuses his power as the son of the owner of the factory when he
steals from the office accounts to pay for Evas upkeep.

LOVE Sheila and Gerald appear to love each other at the start of the play. However, by
the end they realise they do not know each other.
- Mrs Birling shows very little genuine love for her children or husband
throughout the play. She does become very distressed when she realises
Eric is the father of Evas child but we are not sure whether it is because
she loves her son or because she is worried about him being made an
example of in an public inquest.
- Mr Birling sees marriage as a way to climb the social ladder (his wife was
of a higher social class when they married) and this makes us think that
he may not even truly love his wife.
- Gerald and Eric both confess that they did not love Eva. Both of their
relationships were based on lust.
- Eva loved Gerald and became involved with Eric because she needed
someone to care for her, as Gerald once had.
- The inspector talks about love but in the biblical sense of love thy
neighbour. He wants us to be charitable towards others.

REMEMBER Questions based around a theme mean that you can talk about
nearly all of the characters! Try to remember these short bullet points on
each theme for your exam. Make sure that you expand on these with quotes
and explanations use PEE!
Character notes
Arthur Birling

Arthur Birling is an industrialist, a self made man. He has got on in the world, and is
obviously proud of himself. He boasts about being Lord mayor and maybe being
knighted, I was an alderman for years, and Lord Mayor two years ago, and Im still on
the bench.

He is still ambitious and is really pleased with Sheilas engagement to Gerald because it
is a good match socially for Birlings family, but not so good for Geralds (remember that
his family are not present at the celebration!).

Another reason why he is pleased is because he wants to create stronger business links
with Geralds fathers company, Crofts LTD. He one day hopes to combine the two
businesses to make even more profit, ...when Crofts and Birlings are no longer
competing but are working together for lower costs and higher prices.

Birling believes that he is a hard-headed business man and that he should look after
himself and his own. No one else matters in Birlings view. He has provided a top class
education and Sheila enjoys the privilege of a private shopping account at a fashionable
clothes store.

He is frightened however when there is a threat of scandal and shows great relief when
that threat is apparently removed (when they think its a joke). He is angry when Sheila
and Eric still carry on claiming responsibility for Evas death. He say, ...theyre just so
damn exasperating. They just wont understand our position or to see the difference
between a lot of stuff like this coming out in the public... Even after the interrogation
of the inspector he is still thinking about himself and his family.