english AIC character analysis

• although she learns the inspectors lesson, She cannot act on it as she has no Political voice or social power - 1912 women had no vote
• cannot become independent from her parents except through marriage
• doesn't dismiss Gerald but offers to 'start again' and doesn't refuse the engagement saying only 'not yet'
• WOMEN WERE DESENFRANCHISED: financially, socially
• Sheila won't find a better husband - tragic conclusion
• Society only gives her the option of marriage
• Sheila will be unable to resist marrying him because she has no reasonable alternative
• Sheila has learnt the inspector's lesson but is powerless to act on it - makes little difference to society and can't influence Society because it's patriarchal, controlled by men
• her role in society is repressed so even though she's upper class, it still doesn't make a difference
• in order to escape her parents' lives, Sheila is convinced she's learnt the inspector's lesson but it counts for nothing because Society will treat her like a child
• Sheila isn't the same person she was - ANAGNORISIS (Character changes)
• Sheila is powerless to act so suggests she'll be forced by the Patriarchal society to marry Gerald, he is at least 'honest'
• Sheila's engagement to Gerald implies that she knows upper class males have affairs
• Gerald's regret is making him stand out in contrast to the way another husband might exploit or deceive her
• Sheila is infantilised by her family and the society she lives in
• Sheila is presented as naive, young, and able to look after herself, but even though she's engaged, she has restrictions
• Gerald installs Eva in a flat, key of a nice little set of language shows that he wants the room for sexual adventures, making it seem like he's helping her by providing accommodation but he's actually exploiting her
• Gerald isn't critical of the Inspector possibly because Priestley was openly unfaithful in his marriage
• Sheila is still complimentary of Gerald, at least 'you've been honest', but Priestley also invites our moral outrage
• Sheila is prepared to accept Gerald's infidelity because the patriarchal society has conditioned her to accept it in return for social status and financial security
• Eva Smith couldn't afford a stable home and a B&B would be significantly more than the rent of a flat
• Gerald gets Eva drunk before he feeds her, making her more suggestible
• Sheila tells Gerald so many details which match exactly what the Birlings already know of Eva, but he still pretends they are all different girls
• Priestley wants the audience to be critical of Gerald's sophisticated argument
• Gerald pretends to be upset by Eva's death but instead uses the time to find a police agent to expose the Inspector
• Gerald suggests it could be different photos, but this is sophistry because it would be too much of a coincidence
• Gerald made a profit out of the 'blood' of young men, so he is the true villain that Priestley most wants us to reject
• Eva Smith represents the female workforce, Priestley doesn't focus on the John Smiths because women had the vote in 1945 and were more likely to reject the capitalist society
• the root of Eva's tragedy is she described her economic independence, but in 1945 many women were able to get the jobs of men and a capitalist society would take it away
• Daisy Renton's name is an allusion to the fact that Gerald essentially 'deflowered' her, taking her virginity
• Daisy's name is an oxymoron, as she let her 'petals fall' and realises she has to make a terrible economic compromise
• Eva accepts the same economic bargain which Sheila is asked to make
• Priestley is showing that sexual exploitation of women is far more damaging to them than just his stolen money or hand in marriage
• Eva is a universal symbol of oppression, a victim of the patriarchal society much like Sheila and Sybil Birling
• Eva's name, 'to live', is ironic since she takes her own life
• Priestley wants to purify Eva, cleanse her of any trace of 'dirt' hence the disinfectant
• Priestley's final words 'taught it in fire, blood and anguish' are a direct link between capitalism and the desire for war
• Priestley's socialist message is that we are 'intertwined' with everyone and so have a responsibility to the working class in their 'millions and millions and millions'
• Priestley contrasts Mr Birling's view of 'a man has to mind his own business and look after himself' with the idea that 'we don't live alone, we are members of one body, we are responsible for each other'
• Priestley links his socialist message to the Christian message of 'we are members of one body' which most people already accept