themes

• Social Responsibility

  • Priestley wanted his audience to be responsible for their own behaviour and for the welfare of others
  • Priestley uses the inspector to teach the characters about responsibility, using the treatment of Eva Smith to illustrate his image
  • Mr and Mrs Birling don’t feel socially responsible
  • Eric and Sheila change their attitude and do feel socially responsible
• Age

  • Priestley believed there was hope in the younger generations ability to learn and change
  • Eric and Sheila accept their mistakes and offer the chance of a brighter future
  • Mr and Mrs Birling’s opinions and behaviour are more fixed and they refuse to change
  • Mr Birling has a poor opinion of the younger generation
  • Mrs Birling refuses to see the truth about herself and her family
• Gender

  • In 1912, women didn’t have the right to vote and suffered from inequality
  • Eva Smith is presented as independent and outspoken before her death
  • She is treated badly by all men in the play, except for the inspector
  • Mr Birling is very patronising about women and makes sweeping statements about them, including his own daughter
  • Mrs Birling fulfills old-fashioned female roles- that women should support their husbands and not speak against them
• Class

  • Priestley wanted to highlight the inequality between the classes
  • The upper-classes looked down upon the working-classes
  • Working-class Eva is treated badly by the wealthy middle and upper classes
  • Priestley wanted the audience to see the injustice in this