The disinfectant

• Priestley evidences that Eva killed herself with "a lot of very strong disinfectant", which demonstrates the meaningful and deliberate attempt to commit suicide. This could possibly have connotations of cleansing and purification; the exploitation and sexual abuse from Eric and Gerald left her unclean and violated- she needed to be purified.
• Priestley uses shocking imagery when describing Eva's death by disinfectant, saying it "burnt her inside out", which associates Eva's death with Hell. The violent verb "burnt" shows that this method of suicide would have caused much torture and suffering. The association with Hell is linked to the Christian belief that suicide is a sin (thou shalt not kill), but Eva was already living a living hell of a life so she still chose suicide, because she thought nothing could be worse than the life she was living.
• Priestley deliberately uses graphic language to describe Eva's death to awaken the privileged upper classes to the suffering of the working classes.

  Priestley uses the character of Eva to inflict guilt on the Birling family to make them repent, change, and accept responsibility. He has to dramatize and emphasise the suffering that the Birlings caused Eva for them to actually take any notice; the more brutal Eva's death, the greater guilt they should feel.
• After Sheila's confession, the Inspector reminds her that Eva "died in misery and agony- hating life". The use of the graphic adjectives "misery and agony" encourage the audience to sympathise with Eva, they would visualise the suffering she endured at the hands of the Birlings.
• Eva's death is used by Priestley to highlight to the audience the injustice and inequality among the social classes.