Edna

• Parlour maid - paid but exploited
• less then 30 words in the whole play - minor character

  no one speaks up for her - silence used to show the lack of agency for the working class society - Inspector speaks for Eva

  restricted more (lives with Birlings)
• only working class character who appears on stage
• she shows Inspector into the Dining Room in Act 1 - she announces 'An Inspector Called' closest line to the title

  she's blunt, monosyllabic, not trying to be polite - Birling replies with ' Show him in here. Give us some more light' 'Show' and 'Give'=imperative, she's expected to do what they say - highlights the mistreatment of working class women to do what employers say(Eva)
• Edna turns the light from pink and intimate to bright and confronting

  the lighting shows the Inspectors physical effect on the room - spotlight for interrogation - illuminating the truth

  Priestly could use this to show how the working class are delivering the truth to the middle and upper classes (Eva)
• 1912 - women had no rights
• set in 1912 - maids= common

  performed in 1945 - maids=less common

  Edna's presence = old fashioned - alienates the Birlings with audience

  out dated practise of employing working class people on very little money to work long hours
• She is ordered to pour port, serve food, answer the door - these don't require special skills - Birling's could do it themselves

  Mr Birling offers to answer the door in Act 3, Mrs Birling says 'Edna'll go, I asked her to wait up' - implies they intrude on Edna's life, she's just an employee, she can't sleep because the Birlings want her
• successes aren't shared with Edna - she isn't invited to toast the engagement