Eric Flashcards
At start of play: nervous
‘half shy, half assertive’:
shy connotes uncertainty and indecisiveness - suggests lack of confidence and maturity.
‘assertive’ contrasts with shy. Suggests confidence, dominance
Priestly uses contrasting adjectives - view Eric pessimistically in order to show the capitalist patriarchal society is not trustworthy
OR shows Eric isn’t fully comfortable in upper class since he doesn’t fit in
Relationship with Eva
Admits to stealing from Birling (do audience feel bad? No)
Reaction to Mrs Birling’s revelation
What he says/does after the Inspector leaves (and what does this say about him)
Relationship with parents (how does it change, how does his view of them change)
Feelings for + behaviour towards Eva
His changing attitudes
sense of acceptable male behaviour to women in the period
how social class affects Eric’s relationship with women
Comments at the end
“I wasn’t in love with her or anything – but I liked her – she was pretty and a good sport.”
Unserious, lacking maturity + awareness of the gravity of the situation
Displays patriarchy- men use women
‘sport’ - treats it as a game, use her then discard her
Gerald and eric do this to Eva- the fact that they can shows the inequality between men + women, different expectations/allowances.
Being a man/being rich comes with unfair privileges
He says it openly -> it was so normalized in 1912 society. No backlash to it.
‘pretty’ -focus on outward appearances. He seems shallow, immature + unserious (focus on surface level, not going deeper)
Shows injustice + acceptance of injustice in society
‘why shouldn’t they try for higher wages, we try for the highest possible prices’ - eric
eric acts as a dramatic irritant to his father by challenging his ideology, contradicting him, interrupting, asking questions, this foreshadows his character development which is already starting to begin
‘well, i was in the state when a chap easily turns nasty- and i threatened to make a row’ - eric
eric was incredibly drunk + raped eva because it was socially acceptable + eva felt threatened by what eric might do next, normalises rape culture. priestley cements eva’s powerless character here again, where she has no power to stop the injustice against her + an individual who’s life is monopolised by the will of others
‘and that’s when it happened. and i didn’t even remember- that’s the hellish thing. oh- my god! -how stupid it all is!’ - eric
repeating how drunk eric was, uses an euphemism for his sexual assault on eva, priestley effectively uses the semantic field of heaven and hell when eric describes what he did to eva because it’s a heinous crime
‘i liked her- she was pretty and a good sport’ - eric
only liked eva because of her looks and how she listened to eric so he used her sexually on a daily basis
‘she didn’t want me to marry her. said i didn’t love her- and all that’ - eric
eva was realistic, she knew that the difference between their classes wouldn’t allow a marriage, she also had more morals than him because she did not care about the financial gain, she simply just wanted someone to love her. ‘and all that’ highlights eric’s dismissive attitude towards women and holds similarities to his father
‘you’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble- that’s why’ - eric
contrast to beginning of the play, eric is telling the truth, blames his mistakes on his father, spits the last phrase out, resentment towards father, character development
‘then- you killed her. she came to you to protect me- and you turned her away- yes, and you killed her - and the child she’d have had too- my child- your own grandchild- you killed them both- damn you, damn you-‘ - eric
fragmented speech, direct address + repetition indicates eric’s horrid epiphany + that his state of mind is all over the place, ‘damn you’ was a phrase that was very significant in that area, cursing his mother
“you killed her - and the child she’d have had too- my child-your own grandchild”
Act 3- End
Eric Birling, responsibility, Mrs Birling
Priestley encourages the audience to sympathise with Eric. Despite the Inspector’s attempts to enlighten the Birling family that they are all jointly responsible, Eric’s accusation of blame upon his mother is tantamount (equivalent) to Mrs Birling’s blame of the “father”.
By merely placing all the blame upon his mother, with “you killed her,’’ Eric attempts to absolve himself from any blame.
the change from “the” to the possessive pronoun “my” shows his growing understanding of the situation
Direct address is used as a direct accusation which makes the audience left in no doubt about how Eric feels, the repetition emphasises this feeling
Priestley uses these powerful words to show the full impact if mrs birlings actions and how dangerous her snobbery, prejudice and cruelty can be to the point where it can kill, thus they must be abandoned for a better britain to emerge
“(almost threatening her) You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried”
Eric, Mrs birling, responsibility
Act 3- End
Eric continues to undermine himself as he berates (scolds) his mother “You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried”. Priestley’s use of repetition and hyperbole creates a parody of the sweeping statements we might expect a teenager to use in an argument with their parents.
Eric is telling his parents that they’ve always had the same upper class views and opinions and been treated like royalty so they don’t know what it is actually like
“(almost threatening her) You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried”
Eric, Mrs birling, responsibility
Act 3- End
Eric continues to undermine himself as he berates (scolds) his mother “You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried”. Priestley’s use of repetition and hyperbole creates a parody of the sweeping statements we might expect a teenager to use in an argument with their parents.
Eric is telling his parents that they’ve always had the same upper class views and opinions and been treated like royalty so they don’t know what it is actually like
“[Suddenly guffaws] I don’t know - really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh.
Eric, Gerald, gender inequality
beginning act one
This is the first thing we hear from Eric in the play so gives us a first impression.
Priestley’s use of the stage directions to portray Eric as he “suddenly guffaws” occurs directly after Gerald tells Sheila that he will “be careful” after she has told him that she is suspicious of Gerald’s time away from her in the summer. Perhaps this sudden “guffaw” indicates that Eric knows that Gerald is routinely unfaithful. Eric would certainly see this first hand as they both attend the Palace Bar specifically with the intention of picking up women or prostitutes.
He is awkward and unsure of himself. Here he cannot explain his sudden laughter.
links to “half shy, half assertive”
We see Eric slightly drunk
“What about war?”
eric
act one beginning
From early on, he is prepared to challenge his parents; the society represented by the Birling microcosm is starting to change before the Inspector arrives.
Even Eric, who is slightly drunk and not the most intelligent, knows that the prospect of war is a reality and would affect everyone’s lives and businesses
“I left’em talking about clothes again. You’d think a girl had never any clothes before she gets married. Women are potty about ‘em.”
- eric, gender, patriachy
Act 1 beginning - Mocking the women.
- Highlights the patriarchal-dominated society and how men assume superiority over women.
Eric seems to have a very superficial view of women which ties in with his generally immature nature. He admits later that Eva treated him as if he “were a kid”. We can get a glimpse as to why she might of acted this way.
Erics lack of maturity could be attributed to poor parenting by his parents, who if they cannot raise their own children properly cannot be said to have the right to a hugely critical role in national decision making, as some capitalists and the wealthy actually did. Priestley further conveys his critical view of capitalism.
“Is that why she committed suicide? when was this, father?”
eric, capitalism
act one- beginning
After mr birling says he knew the dead women and that he fired her, eric says these words, thus attributing causality between firing and a suicide. On a deeper level Priestley is telling us the actions of the rich can be deadly, and this is evident in Eric’s words
Logically this would mean that the rich gave to think about the implications of their actions on others which is something priestley would have wanted wealthy viewers of his play to start doing
‘It isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else.’‘It isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else.’
Eric
Act 1 beginning
This is in response to mr birling saying that the dismissed former workers from his factory could work somewhere else if they did not like the pay he offered “if they didnt like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else”.
Priestley is alerting the viewers via eric that limited opportunities and ways to earn money and survive restrict choice and freedom
workers are heavily dependent on the goodness of employers as they do not have much opportunities. priestley is encouraging compassion, social responsibility and calling for a fairer britain. Even the somewhat immature eric is aware of the fact that the working class poor do not have much economic freeedom and ability to choose what job they would like to do.
“He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough luck”
Eric, future generations, hope
act one -beginning
Shows Mr. Birling he could have prevented Eva Smiths suicide and first link in the chain of events that led to her death
this is said after gerald says mr birling had no choice but to fire the workers demanding higher pay. Eric as the presumptive heir to mr birlings business disagrees. After mr birling dies, if eric became the owner of the business he would be in a position to implement better pay if he still believed in it the way he seems to believe in it when saying it. This shows not everyone has the sane mindset as mr birling and there is hope for the future
‘I hate these fat old tarts round the town - the ones I see some of your respectable friends with-‘
ric , gender inequality
Act 3- end
Eric’s proclaimation of “I hate these fat old tarts” reveals his disgust at his own hypocrisy in frequenting the palace bar, looking for sex. Priestley implies, through Eric, that - for all men - it is a social norm to pay for sex. The upper-class’ use of prostiution symbolic of their exploitation of the female lower-class, who are the prostitutes that are abused by high-class men.
He is not impressed by mr birlings friends fir being with “fat old tarts” while he did the same by exploiting eva for his own selfish desires
“I insisted - it seems”
Eric, guilt, class division
act3- end
On Eric’s visit to Eva’s lodgings: “I insisted - it seems”. Priestley’s use of the verb “insisted” implies that Eric may have physically overwhelmed Eva’s resistance. Priestley’s use of the ambiguous verb phrase “it seems” reveals Eric’s attempt to forget his immoral actions, and distance himself from his guilt.
Eva could not warn eric to go away as she was poor and a women while he was a rich man from a well- connected family. This highlights the suffering of women at that time.
“in that state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I threatened to make a row”
Eric, guilt, gender, class division
act 3- end
Priestley demonstrates Eric’s subconscious attempts to distance himself from his actions by switching from first person to third person as he refers to himself as “a chap” rather than ‘I’. Eric’s trivialisation (making something seem less important) of such violence of a possible rape, through the colliquial use of “a chap” is an attempt by Eric to soften the harshness of his actions.
He intimidated Eva and “threatened” her by saying he would make a row. This shows the vulnerable nature of Eva as she could not even turn a man away from entering where she was living. It is indicative of gross imbalance in power amongst the two genders.
Eric’s violent language,”i threatened”, is softened through the euphemistic use of “a row”. Priestley demonstrates Eric’s attempts to convince himself that his actions were to a lesser extent of immorality than they actually were.
“(Involuntarily) My God!”
Eric, morality
Act 1- beginning
Eric’s emotional response to the news of Eva’s death as Priestley demonstrates his innate rectitude (morality) through the stage directions. priestleys use of the adverb “involuntary” demonstrates the compassionate, moral nature of Eric as he could not suppress his emotional reaction; it is involuntary. Eric would not choose to reveal his emotions, within a patriarchal society which condemns feminine traits, such as excessive emotion
He is sad at hearing the death of a young woman even if he does not know who she is which at this point in the play he didn’t
