Class

• Priestley uses the characters in An Inspector Calls to criticise the inequality and unfairness of the British class system and argues that the privilege of class blinds people to their immoral behaviour.
• • Class plays a significant role in An Inspector Calls and is a major influence on many of the characters and events
  • The immense inequality between the classes is firmly established at the start of the play:
  • The description of the Birlings’ opulent home is sharply contrasted with descriptions of the workers in Arthur’s factory
• • Sybil could be viewed as making incorrect assertions about the working classes (of whom she has no knowledge) and views them as morally and socially inferior:
  • She ignorantly links class with morality and cannot believe Eva, as a working-class girl, would refuse stolen money
• • Sybil’s hypocritical stance means she overlooks her own selfish and immoral actions and those belonging to her class:
  • She believes her class affords her the superiority to decide who is and is not deserving of charity
  • She overlooks Gerald keeping a mistress and ignores her son’s immoral conduct with Eva
• • Priestley demonstrates how the working classes, especially women, could be exploited and abused by those with wealth and power:
  • Both Gerald and Eric abuse their power and status in their relationship with Eva and both men discard her when it suits them
• • Gerald is entrenched in the views of his class system:
  • This prevents him from genuinely empathising with Eva’s plight or that of the working classes in general
• What is Priestley’s intention?

  • Priestley demonstrates the fixation of the upper classes on their status and their poor morals
  • Priestley further conveys the hypocrisy of the upper classes and the abuse of power over the working-classes
  • This is clearest in the treatment of working-class girls by young, wealthy men