Themes

Question 1

Social Class

Answer 1

• Priestley designed the characters to put across his message that all people “are members of one body”.
  Priestley portrays the upper classes as having a limited sense of social responsibility for those less well off. They either:
• Didn’t know
• Didn’t want to know
• Didn’t care
  Priestley suggested that the higher classes didn’t question the class system as it worked for them. This is the same reason why they also overlooked problems of alcoholism and womanising - it was easier to ignore unpleasant things than deal with them.
  The inspector tells the Birlings that they must accept that everyone should take responsibility for each other, or it’ll all end in “fire”, “blood” and “anguish”.

Question 2

Social Class - Priestley’s Views

Answer 2

• Priestley uses the play to reveal the unfairness of the class system - he uses the Birlings as exaggerated caricatures of all the bad qualities he thought the ruling classes had.
• The play isn’t just about one family’s scandal. It shows how Priestley saw society. Priestley presents the Birlings’ arrogant behaviour and selfish attitudes as common to the middle classes.
• Priestley presents the working class as victims of the class system - although Eva/Daisy’s story is unique, the miseries she suffered were common to “millions and millions” of people. Eva Smith could’ve been anyone.