edna

• It is unlikely that you'll get an explicit question about Edna, but you can still write about her in your answers to other themes and characters
• If you have a question on class

  Edna is the only working class character who actually appears on stage
• If you have a question on Mr Birling or Mrs Birling

  The way they interact with Edna is worthy of analysis
• Edna


  • She is a minor, but significant character
  • She demonstrates the mistreatment of the working class
• Edna's role in the play

  1. Shows Inspector Goole into the dining room

  2. Changes the lighting in the room when the inspector arrives
• The change of lighting on the stage

  Moves from 'pink and intimate' to 'brighter and harder'
• The 'pink and intimate' lighting

  Can be seen as indicative of the overly optimistic 'rose tinted glasses' through which the Birlings view their lives of middle class privilege
• Inspector Goole brings with him

  A harder sort of light - a spotlight of interrogation which will illuminate the truth
• Priestley could be suggesting that it will be the working class who will deliver the truth to the middle and upper classes
• The life of working class Eva Smith is used to challenge the Birlings and Gerald, making them face the true consequences of their actions
• When Birling demands 'Show him in here. Give us some more light.'


  The language and structure of his dialogue is worthy of analysis
• These two simple sentences are bluntly short and monosyllabic, suggesting no attempt at politeness from Birling to Edna
• Both also start with clear imperatives, 'Show' and 'Give', as if Birling expects his orders to be followed instantaneously
• Such off-hand comments may appear insignificant but they subtly add to the dramatic force of Eva's narrative, highlighting the pressure for working class women to unhesitatingly obey their middle-class employers even if working conditions are unfair
• In 1912 when the play was set, the use of maids and servants in the homes of middle and upperclass families was more common than by 1945, when the play was first performed
• To the 1945 audience, Edna's very presence on stage would feel old-fashioned, and Priestley's deliberate inclusion of a maid would serve as a reminder to the audience of the outdated practice of employing working class people on very little money, to work long hours completing jobs that could have easily been done by the owners of the house
• Edna is ordered to pour port, serve food, answer the door: none of the tasks she completes require any special skill, and all could be done by the Birling family themselves
• When Mr Birling offers to answer the door himself late into act three, Mrs Birling casually remarks "Edna'll go. I asked her to wait up"
• This intrusion into Edna's life because of the situation the Birlings have found themselves in demonstrates how the Birlings see Edna as merely an employee, and do not care that their actions are impinging upon her wellbeing
• Edna cannot sleep, because the Birlings want her up to do more tasks for them, even though we can assume that typically she would have finished work by this time
• The Birlings' successes are never shared with Edna: for example, she isn't invited to join in the toast for the engagement
• Priestley seems to be condemning this mistreatment of the working class, and for an audience in 1945, they would consider the treatment of Edna as out of date, and overly formal
• Although Edna speaks only a few lines on stage, she still has more of a voice than Eva
• Both Edna and Eva are two women from the working class, and both seem to suffer in some way at the hands of the Birlings
• Eva never appears on stage, and yet her voice is channeled through Inspector Goole
• When Goole tells the Birlings that "There are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths" he is advocating for the absent Eva, who is unable to speak up for herself
• Edna's silence could be interpreted as symbolic of the lack of agency that the working poor had
• Edna would not have had the same freedom of movement as those in the middle classes, and she would have been even more restricted due to living with the Birlings, and things being made awkward if she ever wanted to leave and ask for references
• In 1912, employees didn't have the same working rights as they did in 1945, and the strengthening of the Unions meant a contemporary audience would appreciate how precarious Edna's position would have been had she wished to leave
• Priestley might not use Edna to say very much, but it is just as important to consider what isn't said, when viewing Edna's importance in the play
• The working poor suffered in many ways, and not all of them are obvious at first glance
• Through his depiction of Edna, Priestley encourages us to consider how, even when they are being paid, the poor are being exploited