Key vocab

• proxy

  • taken on someone else's role
  • Sheila is the Inspector's proxy because she takes on the Inspector's role of being a didactic vehicle to teach and spread the importance of having a collective social conscience
  • this is shown when Sheila emulates the Inspectors words during his final speech - Sheila states "what he made me feel , fire and blood and anguish", The Inspector states "fire and blood and anguish"
  • Reason she is the proxy of the Inspector - Sheila is trying to carry the message of socialism and enlighten her ignorant family about the hellish and eternal consequences of capitalism
• omniscient

  • all knowing
  • The Inspector is presented as omniscient because when he arrives at the Birling's and begins to investigate the unscrupulous, immoral actions, we can see from the beginning of the play that he is extremely knowledgeable and hold power over the Birlings because of his omniscience
• mouthpiece

  • character who vocalises another person's opinions and beliefs
  • Priestley uses the Inspector as his mouthpiece
  • Priestley cannot be in the play himself, so uses the Inspector to critique and indict capitalism
  • This is particularly shown through the Inspector's final speech where he indicts capitalism's selfishness and also promotes the need for a collective social conscience
• exploitative

  • taking an unfair advantage of something for the purpose of profit, comfort and advancement
  • Mr Birling is presented as an exploitative character as his business practices are used by Priestley as an ​allegory ​for ​capitalism's exploitation of the working class​. He details the ways in which ​profit is prioritised over personal wellbeing​, and how the poor are ​dehumanised ​and ​reduced to cheap labour​
  • Mr Birling fired Eva Smith when she refused to be subjected to his low pay and exploitation
• indoctrinated

  • to be taught to accept a new set of beliefs without questioning them
  • Mrs Birling is indoctrinated by capitalism
  • Mrs Birling is a woman who has been subject to the indoctrination of her husband and the patriarchal society to believe that her gender should submit to their male counterparts
• infidelity

  • to be in a romantic relationship with someone other than one's partner
  • Gerald's infidelity is exposed when the Inspector reveals that Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton - the name of the woman Gerald had an affair with
• indictment

  • to heavily criticise a system/idea/group of people
  • Priestley portrays An Inspector Calls as an indictment of the ignorance of the upper classes. He creates the Birling's to personify this utter lack of a collective social conscience
• individualist

  • someone who believes we are solely responsible for ourselves
  • Mr Birling is an individualist who believes we should look out for our own best interests, rather than those of others.
• microcosm

  • a community situation intended to represent the characteristics of something much larger
  • The Birling family's mistreatment of Eva Smith acts as a microcosm for the upper class' mistreatment of the lower classes
• Political diatribe

  • the way a text is written to criticise a political system or belief
  • Priestley uses 'An Inspector Call' as a social and political diatribe to criticise the rigid class divides which are responsible for the exploitation of the lower classes
• proletariat

  • the working classes
  • Eva Smith is representative of the way the proletariat were treated and exploited by the bourgeoisie
• Separate Sphere ideology

  • a victorian and Edwardian concept which placed women in the domestic sphere (in the home) and men in the public sphere (work place)}
  • separate sphere ideology can be seen in the occupations of Mr and Mrs Birling; while Mr Birling owns and manages a factory, Mrs Birling resides mainly in the home, though she often participates in 'feminine' charity work
• stigma

  • social disgrace associated with a certain idea, circumstance or person
  • Mrs Birling turned Eva Smith away from her charity as a result of the stigma surrounding pregnancy outside wedlock
• socialist

  • someone who opposes conservatism and supports public ownership and state intervention
  • Inspector Goole's indictment of the Birling family's actions are driven by his support of socialism; their conservative ideology influenced their actions, leading to Eva Smith's death
• oppression

  • on-going unjust treatment by an authority figure
  • Eva Smith is representative of the continuous oppression of the working classes by their upper class employers
• patriarchy

  • a social system in which men hold the power and women face oppression from the men in power
  • Mr Birling is representative of the patriarchy, emulating traditional male dominance in the way he treats the women around him
• materialistic

  • someone who values material possessions and physical comfort as the highest priority
  • Mrs Birling is materialistic, valuing appearances over good moral standing. Her materialism is made explicit clear in the way she loos down on Eva Smith, who has no material possessions
  • at the exposition of the play, Sheila is presented as materialistic as she values her engagement ring more than her relationship with Gerald - "Now I really feel engaged"
• bourgeoisie

  • the middle class - typically used to refer to the materialistic and self-serving interests of the middle classes
  • The Birling family are representative of the way the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat
• capitalist

  • someone who believes in the economic and social concept of capitalism, which prioritises privately-owned, for profit businesses.
  • capitalists tend to be against the idea of government/state intervention to help the poor
  • Mr Birling represents capitalist ideologies/ideals including the overarching belief that profit is a priority
• bigotry

  • an intolerance of any belief or opinion that differs from one's own
  • Mr Birling's bigotry prevents him from seeing Eva Smith as a human being with the ability to suffer as he can, leading to his mistreatment of her
• autonomy

  • the right of a person to self-govern, or to make their own choices
  • when Eric forced himself onto Eva, he stripped her of her autonomy, mirroring the way the autonomy of the lower classes was often minimised by the upper classes
• disillusionment

  • the disappointment felt when something turns not as good as it was expected/believed to be
  • Eva Smith becomes disillusioned with the upper classes, particularly once Mr Birling fired her for demanding a fair wage, and Mrs Birling turned her away from her charity
• disenfranchised

  • to deprive a person of a privilege
  • Critics have argued that the Birling family have disenfranchised themselves from common decency and social responsibility
• emblematic

  • to be representative of a particular concept or ideology
  • Eva Smith is emblematic of the proletariat in the early twentieth century, used to emphasise their constant oppression
• exploitation

  • The action of treating a person unfairly in order to benefit from their mistreatment
  • Mr Birling fired Eva Smith when she refused to be subjected to his low pay and exploitation
• objectify

  • to degrade a person to the status of an object
  • The Inspector identifies Gerald's objectification of Eva when he asks him if he intended to keep her as his mistress, with the work 'keep' being used to imply ownership
• sycophantic

  • sucking up to a person in order to gain and advantage; obsequious behaviour for personal growth
  • Priestley writes Gerald as a sycophant, agreeing with most of the statements made by Mr Birling
• willful ignorance

  • choosing not to acknowledge or learn about something that would go against a person's existing belief system and force them to make difficult decisions
  • the Birling family are willfully ignorant of the plight of the working classes; acknowledging the difficulties the working class (proletariat) face, would force Mr Birling to increase wages in line with his worker's requests
• industrialist

  • someone who is involved in the ownership and membership of an industry
  • Mr Birling is an industrialist because he owns and manages his own factory