Although Eva Smith is one of the most important characters in the play we never see her and a lot of the aspects of her character (including her existence) are left open to interpretation. But you can find out bits about her appearance and background, as well as her personality by analysing quotes from the text. “Lively good looking girl country bred I fancy.” This tells us about her appearance and upbringing and also a part of her personality she was a lively country girl and her good looks made her stand out. “Both her parents were dead.” This informs us on her background. This means that Eva probably feels a great sadness for her parents and she probably learned how to stick up for herself quite early in life.
Eva’s lifestyle is completely contrasting to that of Sheila’s. While Sheila relied on others to support her and lived an almost carefree life, Eva had to work hard all her life to support herself. Her hard-working nature is shown when the Inspector says, “A good worker too, in fact the foreman told me he was just about to promote her.” This demonstrates her work ethic and her employer’s faith in her skills.
The first thing the audience finds out about Eva is that she is dead. “A young woman died in the infirmary......suicide of course.” She had taken her own life; she felt that she couldn't live any longer. To do such a thing to herself she must have gone through a series of soul-destroying events, and she did as we find out later in the play. This is also supported by the fact that she changed her name several times in order to assume a new identity. She wanted a clean start and each time her new life was no better than her old one.
She was not the sort of person who would give up or opt for the easy way out however, she was strong willed and she stood up for what she believed in. The strike she was involved in at Mr. Birling’s factory shows this. “Except the four or five ring leaders who started the trouble......this girl Eva Smith was one of them.” This reveals that she stood up for what she believed in and that she stuck up for and supported others.
As the play goes on, Eva emerges as the character with the most sincere sense of truth and decency. This was shown when she refused to take the money from Eric on the principle that it was stolen even though she was in desperate need of it. For a woman of such morals to resort to prostitution shows how desperate she must have been towards the end of her life.
The plays main theme is the differences between the social classes and the remarkable differences in how they are viewed and treated. Priestley wrote the play with the intention of getting a social message across. Priestley intends to educate the audience through the way the Birling’s actions, and Gerald’s, contributed to the death of Eva Smith. He wants people to learn a lesson from the play about their responsibility towards other people. Arthur Birling is the sort of person the play warns against. He represents exactly the opposite of what Priestley believes in. Priestley makes him seem foolish. At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling makes a number of confident predictions which the audience know are wrong. A good example of this is the Titanic. “Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” This is what he said about the Titanic. The audience however knows that the Titanic did sink and that therefore Mr. Birling is gravely wrong. As he made the predictions with such confidence he seems foolish because of his incorrectness. The fact that the Titanic is used is interesting as that represents the way different classes are treated. The higher-class people were rescued from the Titanic while the lower class workers were left to drown. The Inspector however has the same views as Priestley, and also makes a prediction during his final speech near the conclusion of the play. He says that if people do not change then blood and fire and anguish will be the result. This is a correct prediction as it refers to World War One and World War Two. Priesley makes the Inspector seem prophetic and mighty. “He is not a large man, but creates at once an impression of massiveness.” This makes the audience take heed of his message.
Another theme of the play is love. Sheila and Gerald have announced their engagement and seem to love each other. After they find out about the other’s actions towards Eva they decide they do not really know each other and Sheila breaks up their relationship indefinitely.
Both Eric and Gerald were involved in relationships with Eva Smith, yet both of them denied loving her. The relationships on their parts were prompted and driven by physical attraction. Eva seemed to have loved Gerald though. Gerald says that while Eva was with him she had been “happier than she’d ever been before. This means that both Sheila and Eva had loved Gerald but that neither of those relationships lasted.
Another important theme in the play is time. At the end of the play we are left with the feeling that everything is going to happen again. This makes the audience wonder if anything is going to be different this time around. Sheila and Eric seem to have changed by the end of the play and I think they will act differently when the next inspector comes. The older characters seem not to have changed though, and you wonder if anything will be different in their thoughts and actions.
Another way to compare these two characters would be through looking at their relationships with other characters and with each other. Sheila’s relationship with her mother and father has been changed by the end of the play as she realises what they have done and that they will not accept responsibility for their actions. At the start of the play Sheila has a lot of respect for Mr. Birling. She listens to all he has to say and takes it all in. She believes what he has to say also, and believes that he is always right. But as the play goes on she loses some of her respect for him because of his past actions and present uncaring attitude. Mr. Birling is the first of the main characters to become involved with Eva. He turned her out of her factory job purely for standing up for what she believed in and for demanding that herself and her fellow workers be paid decent wages. Sheila does what her mother tells her most of the time. As the play progresses she begins to stand up against her mum and she realises that while her mother seems happy to criticise other people, “unlike the other three, I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of” her actions were just as bad and maybe even worse than everyone else’s. Eva had a short run-in with Mrs. Birling when she went to Mrs. Birlings charity organisation seeking help that she desperately needed. Mrs Birling however, turned her away because of an unlikely coincidence, though she described it as a bit of “gross impertinence.” Her relationship with Gerald also changes during the play. At the start of the play they are engaged. She loves him. During the play they split up when she realises that she can’t trust him. Eva also appeared to have loved Gerald. Although both these characters have had a relationship with Gerald and both appeared to have loved him, neither one of them lasted. There were some differences between the relationships. Most probably they were both prompted by physical attraction. But, as Gerald’s relationship with Eva develops it is the fact that he feels sorry for her that makes it last. The reason his relationship with Sheila Lasted the time that it did – longer than his relationship with Eva – is that Gerald loved Sheila but claims never to have loved Eva. Eric is Sheila’s brother so obviously they are pretty close. The play brings them closer together. This is shown when at the end of the play they unite against their parents to try and teach them the errors of their ways. Eva has a relationship with Eric and Eric was the father of Eva’s unborn child. Eric also claims never to have loved Eva, but this time she did not love him either. This relationship was also prompted by physical attraction. Sheila greatly respects the Inspector and even when she realises he is fake she still heeds his message. Eva’s relationship with the Inspector is something that is left open to interpretation. The fact that the infirmary had admitted no girl because of suicide means that Inspector Goole could have been the girl the girl herself, trying to teach the Birlings a lesson before she ended her life. The Inspector could have been a close friend or relative to Eva who wanted the Birlings to know what they had done. The Inspector could have been a ghost sent to try and change the Birlings like the ghosts in a Christmas Carol. As bizarre as this sounds it is backed up by a few facts. The predominant one of these is his name, Goole. This is a deliberate play on words as it sounds exactly like ghoul which is a supernatural being of sorts. To make the audience think a bit more Priestley shows that the name is not spelt exactly the same as the word it sounds like as it is spelt out twice during the play. Sheila and Eva’s relationship is that Sheila gets Eva sacked from her job at Millwards. Sheila is jealous of Eva. While they only see each other briefly the encounter changes Eva’s life.
The way these two characters are portrayed on stage and how they affect the overall drama is vastly different. Eva is extremely unusual for a main character in that she never appears on stage. An actor playing Sheila however would have a very difficult job because of the way her character changes in the play.
If you look at the plays dramatical high points and when the characters of Eva and Sheila generate the most excitement and interest you notice a difference. The interest in Eva peaks right at the start of the play when you realise that she is dead. The stimulus her character provides to the audience stays quite high and peaks a few more times during the middle of the play before completely petering out in Act three. The interest in Sheila is a lot less consistent and has many high points and low points. Sheila is rather uninvolved in the dramatical high points at the beginning of the play but creates excitement and interest when she runs out on about page twenty-two. This leaves the audience in suspense as they do not know the reason for her swift departure. It rises again with the end of Act one when she realises that the Inspector knows everything and when she confronts Gerald. The tension rises again at the end of Act two when it dawns on her, but not her mother, that Eric was the father of the child. She becomes more involved after the Inspector leaves. She is trying to teach the other characters the errors in their ways. The excitement her character produces descends towards the end of Act three when they get a call from the chief of police right at the end of the play.
