Exploitation

• Exploitation


  When someone treats something in an unfair and underhand (dishonest) way in order to benefit from it. This could be a person, system, or position. It 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
• Eva


  • She 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


  They are able to exploit their desperation by making them work for a low wage
• 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
• This means the lower classes were dependent on the upper classes for everything, and Priestley argues that the upper classes exploited this dependency to control others
• Forms of exploitation used by the Birlings against Eva


  • Mr Birling exploited her for cheap labour
  • Sheila exploited her status as the daughter of a well-known man to get Eva fired without a sufficient cause
  • Gerald and Eric exploited her for sex
  • Mrs Birling exploited her influence at the charity to get her case denied
• Through Eva's story, Priestley outlines the different forms of exploitation that support and benefit the upper classes of society
• He shows how the class system and Capitalism rely on the exploitation of the weak, vulnerable, or powerless
• Allegory


  A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one
• Mr Birling's business practices are used by Priestley as an allegory for Capitalism's exploitation of the working class
• Priestley details the ways in which profit is prioritised over personal wellbeing, and how the poor are dehumanised and reduced to cheap labour
• Exploitation of his workers

  Mr Birling uses his position as an employer to boss others around, threatening them with unemployment if they don't adhere to his strict ways. He takes advantage of poverty and high unemployment rates to find workers who will work for a low wage. He targets the weak and vulnerable, but isn't prepared to help when his actions backfire.
• Mr Birling: '"together" "for lower costs and higher prices"'
• Mr Birling's goal is unconcerned with improving working conditions or workers' rights. Instead, he wants to make even more profit, even though it is clear his business is already successful
• His workers are reduced to a simple "cost", a figure he wants to lower. His workers never receive the benefit of these "higher prices" as Mr Birling keeps the profit for himself
• This simple clause summarises all of the issues Priestley sees in Capitalist business: the exploitation and dehumanisation of workers
• Dehumanisation of workers


  Mr Birling's perception of his workers is in keeping with his business methods. He outlines how he has "several hundred young women" at his factory who "keep changing" which shows how he doesn't see his workers as individuals. The vague term "several hundred" illustrates the women's loss of individual identity, as they are viewed as a collective. Furthermore, they "keep changing", meaning it is not the individual who matters, only that the factory always has a large number of workers on a low wage. The phrase "keep changing" alludes to the vast number of unemployed people available, as Priestley suggests the company consistently hires new staff while firing old staff to keep their costs low. As they are all "women", Priestley again indicates that working class women were the most targeted by Capitalist endeavours, because companies could give them a lower wage than if they were men.
• The Inspector explains how beneficial extreme poverty and despair are for Capitalist companies
• The Inspector: '"There are a lot of young girls living that sort of existence in every city and big town in this country, Miss Birling. If there weren't, the factories and warehouses wouldn't know where to look for cheap labour"'
• The phrase "every city and big town in this country" expresses how universal the problem is, evoking the idea that poverty is an epidemic. The Inspector implies the wealth and success signified by a "city" obscures its destitute underbelly
• As they are prepared to harm "young girls", the audience understands how these companies must be inhuman and pitiless
• Priestley demonstrates how the comfort and luxury of one person's life, or the success of one business, is directly dependent on the distress and hardship of others
• Priestley accuses "the factories and warehouses" of perpetuating the cycle of poverty to ensure they always had a cheap workforce available
• He suggests the issue of poverty could be solved, but isn't, because others benefit from it
• Gerald and Eric


  As the young men in the family, they 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 these characters 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's exploitation of Eva

  He rescues Eva, gives her money and a place to stay and brings her love and happiness. However, because he makes her his mistress and abandons her when he sees fit, his actions appear to have an ulterior motive. He takes advantage of her vulnerability for his own entertainment.
• Gerald: '"looked quite different", "was very pretty", and "looked young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there"'
• These sensual, romanticised descriptions imply his sexual attraction to her was always a factor in his decision to befriend her
• Gerald: '"a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help"'
• This is an ultimatum, tying her escape to his company. He implies that if she rejects him, she will be in trouble again, forcing her to be reliant on him
• Dependency


  Priestley conveys the imbalance of Gerald and Eva's relationship to illustrate the working classes' dependence on the upper classes
• Gerald: '"intensely grateful", "became at once the most important person in her life"'
• This could imply that Eva felt she owed Gerald for rescuing her, rather than his aid being an act of selfless goodwill
• The adverb "intensely" and the superlative "most" emphasise how reliant Eva was on Gerald, implying he controlled her
• Gerald: '"didn't feel about her as she felt about [him]", "wonderful Fairy Prince"'