Gender

Women hadn't yet won the vote - that came in 1918. Upper class women were expected to be docile, pretty and focused on the domestic environment. They should be good, loyal wives, and although rich women would mostly have had nannies to look after their children, the nannies would all be women as well.

Mrs Birling is an interesting character as the stage directions note that she is her husband's "social superior." This suggests that she was from an aristocratic background, but married below her, as Birling owned a business and had the wealth. This wasn't unusual as the industrial revolution had seen a lot of ambitious people from lower classes become wealthy. Often men who had become wealthy desired a wife of a higher class in an attempt to climb the social ladder themselves. Despite being of a higher social class, Mrs Birling is often submissive to her husband's wishes - as would have been expected of her in 1912.

Sheila's reaction to Eva is also telling. Women have almost always been judged on their looks - the battle to change this continues today. And Sheila's reaction to Eva's prettiness - the fact that Eva looked better that her in a dress that Sheila liked - is complicated. She shouldn't have had Eva sacked for laughing, but Sheila also shouldn't have felt so dismayed that she wasn't as pretty as Eva. In some ways, we should feel some sympathy for Sheila who - for no fault of her own - was made to feel bad because of her face or body shape.

We should also remember that, at the opening of the play, Sheila is being married off to Gerald so that her father can unify their business interests and achieve "lower wages and higher prices." This wasn't dissimilar to the way that aristocratic families had used marriage as a way to bring families together for hundreds of years. Sheila's role, in this respect, is just to look pretty and do as she's told.

Gerald and Eric's trips to the Palace Bar reveal that although sexuality was still very repressed in British life, it had a seedy underbelly. The bar itself - which is ironically named - was where rich men would have gone to find the kind of women they could pay to have sex with. At the time prostitution was illegal - which meant a woman could be put in prison if she was caught trying to sell sex - so there was an illusion of seduction that would have taken place before any cash was exchanged. What Gerald does, really, is maintain a sense that he's not paying for a prostitute when in fact he was. In many ways, Eric's rape was a more honest expression of what was happening.

Really though, what was happening was that people like George Birling were driving women into poverty so that their sons could take advantage of them when they were at their lowest. The system was setup so that women would fail, and they could then be used for their most fundamental commodity: sex.

During World War I, a third of male population of the UK went to fight. And over 700,000 of them never returned home. As a result, women had to step up to the plate and be counted - a task that women fulfilled. World War II killed almost 900,000 men, and because that conflict was so much more complex the roles that women played were infinitely more involved. Women became spies, data analysts, armaments manufacturers, farmers, code crackers and did - as with the men - anything that was asked of them to bring down the Nazis.

The world for women after the two World Wars was a very different place.

Despite this, there would have been a certain number of voices who wanted to return to the 'good old days,' and Priestley was determined that this shouldn't happen. Throughout the play, he reminds the female members of the audience that they had been belittled and downtrodden prior to the wars, and through the character of Sheila he shows that another world was possible.

Though Eric does change, he lives in his sister's shadow. Throughout the play Sheila goes from being a kowtowed young woman who has to check "is this the ring you wanted me to have" and into a strong, wilful young woman who is prepared to call her parents the children, and - although she's very polite about it - return the ring her cheating finance had offered again.

Also, I can't help but feel that the women in the audience would have felt a real sense of camaraderie with Eva - the voiceless, faceless girl who suffered immeasurably at the hands of the men around her. Both wars were, after all, started and fought by men...

Feminism has come a long way since 1945 - first, second, third and fourth wave feminism have chipped away relentlessly and seen to it that young women today don't look at themselves in the same way they once did. However, the play itself is a relic of its time and while writing an essay about it you are encouraged to bring your own feelings to bear. Here's a couple of notes that might be worth mentioning...

Eva is called "pretty" 12 times in the play - that's four times in each act. So please remember that Eva's tragic death was not heightened or lessened by how "pretty" she was. Her good looks have no relevance to how sad we should feel. Even the inspector calls her pretty repeatedly, and because he speaks with Priestley's voice (and he never corrects this message,) we have to take away the idea that Priestley somehow thought her good looks were relevant when they're not. It's as sad when pretty people die as it is when ugly people do - and beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway.

It's also worth noting that the inspector (Priestley) claims that Eva - who had previously been starving - would have been happy working at Milwards as she was "amongst the pretty clothes." Here, the inspector doesn't say that she was happy eating, or happy with the security of a home, or happy being able to see a future again but she was happy with "pretty clothes." Is this an example of the inspector (Priestley) belittling a women by presuming that she was happier with pretty clothes than she was by securing something more meaningful - like food?

Towards the end of the play Sheila observes that Gerald "came out of it better than the rest of us. The Inspector said that." But take a moment to reflect on the fact that Gerald took a girl who was starving and then "kept" her until he was finished and then kicked her out and ask yourselves whether or not you feel that behaviour makes him "better than the rest of us."

Sheila does return the ring, very politely. Arguably, however, she should have thrown it in his face and then had a strong word with both her parents about why they suddenly decided it was ok to marry their daughter off to a cheat and a liar, just because they wanted to further their business interests.

Please note: all of the above are, arguably, true - in that we can see the truth of them today. However, the play is a relic of its time and you should write your essays with an understanding of how it was written in 1945, with an attempt to present 1912, but you're reading it in 2020. Times change, texts don't. They can only ever reflect the time they were from and your writing should show you understand this.

Mrs Birling: When you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.
Mrs Birling reminds Sheila of her place. As a quote this emphasises just how engrained the patriarchy was (the patriarchy is the social system that kept men in power) because in it we can see Mrs Birling almost teaching her daughter that she will have to accept being ignored in favour of business. However, at the end of the quote Mrs Birling does express some dissatisfaction, admitting that she had to "get used" to it, something which at least makes it clear that she didn't like the situation. The quote also, however, reminds us how hard men like Birling had to work in order to build and maintain their businesses, suggesting that the system didn't entirely help them either.

(half serious, half playful) “Yes – except for last summer, when you never came near me” –Sheila (Act 1)

Suggesting that she doesn’t fully trust Gerald, despite the fact that they’re going to be married soon, but again shows how she is childish, and relatively light-hearted, as she is still ‘half playful’ even in something which could be seen as quite serious.

Oh – Gerald – you’ve got it – is it the one you wanted me to have?

When Sheila is given the ring, she asks Gerald if it’s the one “you wanted me to have.” Here, she completely removes the idea that she might have feelings about which ring she gets. This reflects both her position as a woman in a patriarchal society, and how, as a young girl, she still needs to have decisions made for her. It’s as if she wants to please other people so much that her own opinions don’t matter – this will change once her conscience is awakened by the arrival of the inspector.

“These girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.” – Sheila (Act 1)

Priestly using Sheila as his mouthpiece, in place of the inspector, and also highlighting the division between the generations further, and the moral aptitude of Sheila. This shows that Sheila is learning. She won’t see Sheila in terms that are limited to her material worth to the company, but she sees them as PEOPLE.

Mr Birling: Clothes mean something quite different to a woman…a sort of sign or token of their self-respect.
The Inspector: She enjoyed being among pretty clothes, I've no doubt.

The first line here comes from Mr Birling in Act 1, and as such is one that we are encouraged to mock - this is a man who thought the Titanic was a great idea after-all. However, the inspector supports it later in the play when talking about Sheila working in Milwards suggesting that there is something more complex going on. Does Priestley think women are defined by their clothes, or is Birling observing another kind of communication that exists amongst women? As an attitude in the play, it's one that you're encouraged to have your own opinion on.

Gerald: Eva was "young and pretty and warm-hearted - and intensely grateful."

Gerald describes Eva in a manner that would leave some members of the audience a little uncomfortable. The first half of this quote is supposed to show Eva in a positive light (though her tragedy was still tragic even if she was old, ugly and a bit sour) but the second half of it is quite shocking. Of course she was grateful, Gerald... she was STARVING and you fed her, used her, and then dropped her when you were done.

Inspector: And you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?

Gerald asks that Sheila be allowed to leave the room, to protect her fragile female sensibilities, but the inspector challenges him. If Gerald really believed women should be protected, why did he not offer the same treatment to Eva? Why was this poor working class woman treated as badly as she was by a society that also treated upper class women as though they were too fragile to leave the house? Here, the inspector reveals the hypocrisy at the heart of the patriarchal behaviour of upper class men.

“Women of the town?” – Mrs Birling (Act 2)

Mrs Birling is using a euphemism here to talk about prostitutes. Her shock shows just how little she understands about her son or Gerald; and how little she understands about working class life in general. This is especially telling in Mrs Birling as she runs the charitable institute. We have to ask why a woman who holds the views she does would run an institute for desperate women, if not solely to wallow in the power it gives her.

“You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.” –Sheila (Act 2)

Again showing how she has matured enough to recognise that she has matured, and that both of the characters present have undergone great change (Sheila and Gerald), due to their confessions of involvement with Eva Smith, and this also shows how Sheila has become rather perceptive over this play. Here, because this follows her returning Gerald's ring, it emphasises just how much she has grown as a person and as a woman. She now wants a little more from her life - in the same way that the women of 1945 were being encouraged to ask for a little more from theirs too!

Eric: I wasn’t in love with her or anything – but I liked her – she was pretty and a good sport

Eric's description of his feelings for Eva speaks volumes. He didn't love her but he wanted to marry her which shows a deep misunderstanding of the nature of relationships and love, and emphasises his immaturity. While the fact she's described as "a good sport" after presumably responding to his having raped her with a stiff upper lip, shows a quite staggering level of insensitivity. She's also called "pretty" again.

“Everything’s all right now, Sheila” – Gerald (Act 3)

He’s reverted back to his former patronising tone with Sheila – so long as he wasn’t to blame for any suicides, he’s happy. Gerald goes on to find out that Inspector Goole isn’t even part of the police force, and that Eva Smith/Daisy Renton doesn’t exist and seems more at ease than before, and doesn’t seem ‘shaken’ at all by the events that had taken place, and he seems to form an ‘alliance’ with the older Birlings, by confirming the Inspector wasn’t real, and shows that he was unable to change. Over the course of the play, he changed to a more moral and humanistic person, but changed back to his former self, at the very chance of possibly being let off this crime. Though it shows he expresses regret if it did happen, it shows that he doesn’t care if he wasn’t involved. In a nutshell: he thinks he got away with it, so he’s happy now.

Mrs Birling: Now just be quiet so your father can decide what to do

Though she is her husbands "social superior" Mrs Birling knows her place. She leaves the room so the men can talk business as soon as dinner is over, and at the end of the play - in the quote above - she makes it clear whose responsibility it is to make the really tough decisions in their relationship.