Eva is presented as an innocent girl whose life has been ruined by an inconsiderate family.
“…with no work, no money coming in, and living in lodgings, with no relatives to help her, few friends, lonely, half-starved, she was feeling desperate.”
This encourages the audience to empathize with her and, as the play progresses, dislike the Birlings and disagree with their selfish behaviour. She is a metaphor for the working classes (the masses) who were inferior to wealthy people in society.
“But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.”
The Inspector delivers Priestley’s message but Eva Smith is his weapon.
“Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.”
“Her position now is that she lies with a burnt-out inside on a slab.”
“This girl killed herself – and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.”
In Act II we find out how each member of the family is partly responsible for Eva’s untimely demise. Sheila is the first person to accept her responsibility for Eva’s death.
“I know I’m to blame – and I’m desperately sorry.”
She regrets what she has done but she doesn’t want to take all the blame.
“I won’t believe – it’s simply my fault that in the end she – she committed suicide. That would be too horrible –.”
She wants the responsibility for Eva’s death to be shared. This reflects Priestley’s message.
“If there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt.”
Sheila wants to stay to hear Gerald’s confession. At first, Gerald tries to deny that he was involved with Eva.
“Where did you get the idea that I did know her?”
This symbolizes the indifference the aristocracy had for the working class.
Gerald admits that he treated Eva irresponsibly. He took advantage of her and he didn’t really love her.
“But she became your mistress?”
“Yes. I suppose it was inevitable…I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me.”
This confession reveals the hypocritical nature of the upper classes. The Birlings only care about themselves.
“You’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense…”
“A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.”
Gerald declares that he left Eva when he no longer needed her.
“I had to go away for several weeks then – on business – and by that time Daisy knew it was coming to an end. So I broke it of definitely before I went.”
Mrs Birling is shown the photograph and also denies that she knew Eva. Sheila is angry that she refuses to accept part of the blame.
“Father threw this girl out because she asked for decent wages. I went and pushed her farther out, right into the street, just because I was angry and she was pretty. Gerald set her up as his mistress and then dropped her when it suited him. And now you’re pretending you don’t recognize her from that photograph.”
When each character is asked whether they know Eva they deny it, even though they do know her. By now the audience knows what to expect. This is the effect of a dramatic device.
The dramatic device is used with even more dramatic effect when the audience guess that Eric is the father of Eva’s child before Mrs Birling does. There are clues in the play that tell us that Eric is the father.
The inspector informs the Birlings that he would like Eric to be present.
“We do need him here. And if he’s not back soon, I shall have to go and find him.”
Mrs Birling explains that when Eva appealed to her organization for help (which she refused) she said that she couldn’t marry the father.
“She said that the father was only a youngster – silly and wild and drinking too much.”
Mrs Birling suggests that the father was wealthy.
“He had given her money but she didn’t want to take any more money from him.”
“If, as she said, he didn’t belong to her class...”
Priestley uses dramatic irony when Mrs Birling says that the blame lies with the father of Eva’s child, but she doesn’t know that it is her son.
“I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have…and he ought to be dealt with severely.”
This suggests that her unbiased opinions are the same as Priestley’s – that everyone is responsible for the working class in the community.
Even when it is confirmed that Eric is the father Mrs Birling won’t admit it.
“I don’t believe it. I won’t believe it.”
I enjoyed the play because it has an important moral. I think that the creation of Eva Smith was a clever way for John Priestley to tell the audience his message to society.
