An Inspector Calls AQA

• Eva Smith


  An extended metaphor for the exploited working class
• Eva Smith asks for a fair wage


  She is fired
• Eva Smith gets fired from her next job


  For no reason
• Eva Smith


  • Exploited by individualists and the system of Capitalism as a whole
  • Vulnerable as a working class woman
  • Taken advantage of by men of the upper class
  • Raped
  • Commits suicide
• Priestley feels that the working class is exploited by the rich until they die hopelessly
• Capitalism


  An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state
• Exploitation


  Taking advantage of someone in a way that is unfair or selfish
• Gerald and Eric


  Represent the ways in which exploitation and mistreatment of women is normalised and encouraged in society
• “Hard-headed businessman” 


  Arthur Birling
• Mr Birling is proud of being a ‘self-made' man and advises those around him that to become rich you cannot be soft hearted. Priestley uses this alliterative adjective “hard headed” to emphasise Mr. Birling is someone who does not have sympathy for others.
• Priestley uses this expression to imply that he is steadfast and unwavering in his beliefs. He is narrow minded and determined, which foreshadows his inability to change his mind (and how he, akin to Sybil Birling, refuses to take responsibility, instead blaming it on business). 
• This phrase is also repeated by Mr Birling to show he is quite proud of describing himself in this way.
• Businessman


  Can be likened to capitalism and how he believes to be a self made man of business - this depicts his individualistic ideology
• Mr Birling's avarice


  Causes him to demean Eva Smith's role as a woman from the working class background
• The relationship between employer and employee


  Would have not been mutual, as Arthur Birling is presented with superiority and refuses to take responsibility
• Arthur Birling


  Views his workers as commodities, and if they reduced profit, they are merely disposable
• Arthur Birling


  Avoids scrutiny through the Inspector, as he sees it as a challenge to his authority and intelligence
• Priestley presents Arthur Birling as an obstinate socialite who doesn't want anyone interfering with how he runs his business
• Priestley purposefully presents him in this manner in order to draw parallels with laissez-faire economics.
• In In 1912, the Liberal Party would have allowed Mr Birling to run his business however he wanted.
• Priestley criticises this set government through the construct of the Inspector, by arguing that businesses' cultures of personal freedom and privacy permit people to act deceptively, fraudulently, and exploitatively without facing repercussions, as demonstrated by the exploitation of Eva Smith. 
• “The Titanic.. unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” 


  Arthur Birling
• The Titanic was a celebrated ship that sunk in 1912 on a voyage to America. The Titanic was celebrated by the rich like Mr Birling who believed that their wealth could lead to endless success. The sinking of the Titanic shows that material prosperity does not always lead to endless success. This quote is an example of dramatic irony. The audience know the fate of the Titanic which shows that Arthur Birling is wrong. The audience will question if Mr. Birling is incorrect in this instance and whether he is also incorrect in numerous other areas.  
• The repetition of “unsinkable” depicts Mr. Birling as stupid and immodest, “absolutely” suggests that Birling always believes he is right. Priestley is explicating that the older generation aren’t open minded, foreshadowing how the older generation aren’t willing to modify their opinions. 
• Priestley is criticising capitalist views, demonstrating their ignorance and falsity. Birling epitomises the capitalists in the early 1900s and their individualism and serves as a foil for the Inspectors socialism. 
• Since the majority of those who perished were from the working classes, the Titanic's iconography also serves as a metaphor for the class struggle. 
• Priestley also employs dramatic irony to portray Mr Birling as foolish - he is wrong about many subjects, when he asserts with confidence “the Germans don’t want war” as he goes “to that I say - fiddlesticks” is received by the contemporary audience in 1945 as ignorant as these people have strong memories of both WWI and WWII. 
• The use of the derogatory, dismissive exclamation “fiddlesticks” fathers the audience's loathing of Mr Birling. Mr Birling makes the bold claim that England was undergoing a “time of steadily increasing prosperity”, the audience is aware that the Great Depression ensued as a direct result of World War I. This causes Mr Birling to become demonised and the audience to condemn his capitalist notions as they most likely suffered through one of the most economic depressions in modern history.
• “I went to the manager at Milwards”


  Sheila Birling
• Sheila Birling


  Claims to justify her abuse of Eva Smith's working-class woman identity in order to get her dismissed from Milward's clothing business
• Sheila Birling became enraged with jealousy


  After Eva Smith looked better than her at the store
• Sheila Birling


  • Portrayed as immature and insecure of her own beauty
  • Jealous and lacks empathy
  • Doesn't care what will happen to Eva Smith after she was fired
  • Naïve and egotistical
• Priestley uses the imagery of the mirror to show that Sheila looks at the mirror but metaphorically does not see her own jealousy
• Sheila's immediate reaction to the news of Eva's death


  Questioning her beauty: "Pretty?"
• Sheila's grief was greater due to Eva being pretty, demonstrating Sheila's warped view of the world where the value of someone's life depends on their outward beauty
• Sheila's view of the world


  Linking to socioeconomic classes since wealthy people can afford to enhance their appearance with fashionable clothing and cosmetics
• Sheila's evaluation of people

  Upper-classes are of a greater value than the lower classes
• Priestley presents Sheila this way initially

  To allow her character to develop later in the play as she adopts the Inspector's message of social responsibility
• Sheila's jealousy is validated by the revelation of Gerald's affair with Eva Smith
• Mrs Birling's reaction to Gerald's affair


  Reinforces Sheila's jealousy and that men having affairs is commonplace