exploitation

• Exploitation is when someone treats something in an unfair and underhand (dishonest) way in order to benefit from it.
• Exploitation can involve a person, system, or position.
• Exploitation often involves taking advantage of weakness or trust.
• The theme of exploitation runs through the play, as Eva Smith is exploited by individuals and the system of Capitalism as a whole.
• Exploitation links to the themes of social class, Capitalism vs Socialism, and gender.
• Eva is vulnerable because she is a working class woman.
• Even though as an individual she is strong and assertive, her position in society means she has no power and faces discrimination from others.
• Priestley presents the ways in which employers - and the Capitalist economy as a whole - prey on the vulnerability of working class women to make huge profits.
• The entire function of the British economy in the twentieth century relied on the exploitation of those at the bottom of the hierarchy, according to Priestley.
• Priestley implies the systems of class and power in British society are exploited by the upper classes.
• The Birlings take advantage of their trusted positions in the community to get their own way and escape punishment.
• At the time the play is set the upper classes controlled everything in society, including money and employment.
• The poor lived on the landowners’ estates and had to pay rent, or were employed by factory workers and had to follow their rules.
• Gerald suggests the issue of poverty could be solved, but isn’t, because others benefit from it.
• Gerald and Eric represent the ways in which exploitation and mistreatment of women is normalised and encouraged in society.
• Their behaviour is a symptom of a wider culture of aggressive masculinity and pride.
• Priestley uses Gerald and Eric to demonstrate how men exploit the dominance they are given in a patriarchal society and the power their wealth brings them to take advantage of working class women.
• Gerald sees an opportunity to exploit Eva when he rescues her, gives her money and a place to stay, and brings her love and happiness.
• Gerald’s actions appear to have an ulterior motive as he takes advantage of Eva’s vulnerability for his own entertainment.
• Gerald’s descriptions of Eva imply his sexual attraction to her was always a factor in his decision to befriend her.
• The focus on Eva’s appearance, with the repetition of how she “looked”, shows that Gerald formed these opinions of her before even talking to her.
• Gerald implies that if Eva rejects him, she will be in trouble again, forcing her to be reliant on him.
• Priestley conveys the imbalance of Gerald and Eva’s relationship to illustrate the working classes’ dependence on the upper classes.
• Eva felt she owed Gerald for rescuing her, rather than his aid being an act of selfless goodwill.
• Gerald’s friendship was priceless to Eva even if he didn’t treat her well.
• Priestley outlines the different forms of exploitation that support and benefit the upper classes of society.
• Her life depended on him because he was providing her with housing and money, meaning his treatment of her became a form of sexual exploitation.
• The love and dependency within their relationship wasn’t equal: he confesses he “didn’t feel about her as she felt about [him],” and he enjoyed being the “wonderful Fairy Prince,” suggesting he exploited Eva’s need for him in order to sleep with her.
• The sense of power being her “Fairy Prince” gave him enabled him to do as he wished.
• When he did eventually break it off, she told him she “hadn’t expected it to last,” suggesting she was aware that Gerald was much less invested in their relationship than she was, and that his desire for her would wear off.
• Priestley emphasises the power imbalance between the two characters: Eva’s whole life revolved around their relationship, whereas Gerald viewed her as a temporary source of pleasure.
• The power imbalance is further proof of Gerald’s exploitation of Eva and her position.
• Priestley uses their relationship to show how the lower classes were fully committed to the upper classes’ desires and whims, and the upper classes could enjoy the benefits of this without ever needing to be invested themselves.
• Eric also has a relationship with Eva, which appears to be very one sided with Eric admitting: “I wasn’t in love with her or anything - but I liked her - she was pretty and a good sport,” which shows how he used her to satisfy his own sexual desires.
• By describing her as “pretty and a good sport,” Eric objectifies her, presenting her as prey or something to be conquered rather than a willing participant.
• By “insisting” and “threatening” her, Eric has forced her into a position she didn’t want to be in.
• The consequences of their relationship are much more serious and permanent for Eva than they are for Eric which shows how the exploitation of working class women caused long-lasting trauma and damage for them.
• The Inspector summarises how Eric exploited Eva to satisfy his own urges, saying he “just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person,” indicating that Eric dehumanised her because she was of a lower class.
• As it was out of the question for people of different classes to marry, Eric was able to use her as a “thing” without committing to marrying her or ever seeing her again.
• Mr Birling’s business practices are used by Priestley as an allegory for Capitalism’s exploitation of the working class.