Eric

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

Eric is presented a microcosm for the spoilt youth in a capitalist society, but is later utilised it reveal that anyone has capacity of redemption through his acceptance of responsibility on his vile, unforgivable actions.

Question 2

Para 1

Answer 2

At the beginning of the play Priestley introduced Eric as an awkward upper class young man to criticise the effect of a poor upbringing in upper classes

• ‘Half shy, half assertive’ - naïve, juxtaposing adjectives suggest his awkwardness and obscurity in life as a lack of poor guidance from parents
• ‘I don’t know- really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh’ - inability to explain his own laughter, lack of control over himself
• is interrupted by Birling, revealing his lack authority in the household, suggesting his neglect, further suggested by his positioning downstage
• Mrs B’s dismissal of Eric being ‘Squiffy’ - reveals Eric’s ‘shy’ façade hiding his drinking problem while simultaneously suggesting that he is neglected by his parents

Question 3

Para 2

Answer 3

After learning of Eva’s death- Priestley presents Eric as a character who can empathise with the lower classes, foreshadows his capacity to change

• ‘[involuntarily] my god!’ - Genuinely shocked and concerned demonstrating that he has a morale nature , may be seen as feminine hysteria through the adverb stage direction, but makes the audience realise that emotions are needed to empathise.
• ‘Why shouldn’t they ask for higher wages- we try for the highest prices’- logical argument to his father- confidence and empathy towards Eva which allows his reformation, ‘they’ and ‘we’ utilised to show the class barrier exists, but disagrees with it, in contrast to the older Birling’s use of the pronouns for prejudice.

During interrogation- Eric seems to morally progress backwards rather than forwards through his failure to take clear responsibility for his actions
-‘in that state when a chap easily turns nasty’- distances himself by switching from first person to third person while the use of the colloquialism ‘chap’ trivialises the upper class’ sexual exploitation of the lower class, ‘nasty’ euphemises, further trivialises his horrific actions
-seems pathetic when he tries to divert blame onto his mother ‘you killed her’, tantamount to Mrs B blaming the ‘father’ of the child, and rejection of collective responsibility through the singular second person pronoun ‘you’., directly attacks his mother
-‘[almost at breaking point] so she came to you for help to protect me and you turned her away’- repeated use of direct address- shows assertiveness, remorse and blame
-Irony in his claim that he ‘hates those fat old tarts’ who are products of the upper class’ sexual exploitation (like he did to Eva)
Misogynistic towards Eva
-‘She was a good sport’, ‘sport’ implying that she was a form of entertainment, objectifying her
Moment of epiphany seems almost impossible, but he miraculously defies this

Question 4

Para 3

Answer 4

Priestley maintains the audience’s sympathy through the diversion of blame on society and his upbringing

• ‘you’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’ disappointed by his father, revealing his assertive powerful, the noun ‘kind’ generalising the upper class as poor parents, causing an audience to sympathise- but still deflects responsibility
• From ‘uneasily’ to shouting in the end- gains authority, a voice in the household, finding himself- inspector’s arrival has catalysed this
• Very mature as he stops arguing with Sheila- together they represent the youth’s capacity to change

He highlights Eric’s reformation through his taking up of the mantle of responsibility
-‘The fact remains that I did what I did’- expresses genuine remorse embraces responsibility, the use of the noun ‘fact’ conveys that this is the truth- not the delusion and myopic state Mr/s B and Gerald have put themselves in , while the use of the first person pronoun ‘i’ reveals his progression from his earlier use of the colloquialism ‘chap’, putting himself at the of blame
By presenting his almost miraculous reformation despite committing the vilest crime and sins, Priestley demonstrates to his audience that anyone has the capacity to change