Social Class Theme, An Inspector Calls: GCSE English Literature Revision

Social Class Theme

Topics on this page

Social Class Theme Notes
JB Priestley’s message/intended effect on audience
Quotes relating to the theme of Social Class & Hierachy
Changing Character Attitudes to Hierachy

1. Social Class Theme Notes

In An Inspector Calls, the cast of the play does not include any lower class characters (apart from Edna The Maid - the name 'The Maid' emphasises the distinction between the upper and lower class). We see only the rich, upwardly mobile Birlings and the upper class Gerald Croft. However, we hear of the lower class through each stage in Eva's life and we see the attitude the Birlings and Gerald Croft had for them.

2. JB Priestley’s message/intended effect on audience

J B Priestley is trying to show that the upper class are unaware that the easy lives they lead rest upon hard work of the lower classes.
He also aims for the elite members of society to work for the common good for all of society, through the interrelated theme of Social Responsibility.
Priestley clearly was interested in the class system and how it determines the decisions that people make.

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3. Quotes relating to the theme of Social Class & Hierachy

“Perhaps I ought to warn you that hes an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently.” Mr Birling bullies the Inspector through his status and authority in society, showing Mr Birling believed he was more important than an Inspector.
“Is it the one you wanted me to have?” Girls are shown to be very passive and submissive, as well as abide to a socially superior. This also shows the theme of gender differences in the play.
Mr Birling sees Eva as just one of “several hundred young women” who worked at his factory. This shows that in his view, all of his workers have no value. By saying “they keep changing” he shows the audience he did not even care if he dismissed Eva as she was just cheap labour to him. Therefore, by the victim of the play being a working class female, Priestley highlights the vulnerability of the working class in those times, something that was socially acceptable. This idea also links to the play's theme of gender differences.
Mrs Birling’s snobbery develops to a point later in the play when she calls Eva a “girl of that sort.” She represents the ignorant older capitalist generation that Priestley implies was responsible for the inequality of the society at that time and which led to the younger generation suffering in “ fire and blood and anguish.”

4. Changing Character Attitudes to Hierachy

Attitudes at the start of the play

Mr Birling is keen to be knighted to cement his hard-fought rise to the upper class. He uses Eva Smith as cheap labour
Sheila was happy spending a lot of time in expensive shop. Eva was someone who could be fired out of spite because Sheila was socially superior.
Gerald is prepared to marry Sheila, despite her lower social position. Eva was his mistress who he believed could be discarded at will due to her lower class. He did not believe it would affect his relationship with Sheila.
Eric is awkward about his 'public-school-and-Varsity' life. He used Eva as easy sex at the end of a drunken night out.
Mrs Birling is socially superior to her husband, and embarrassed at his gaffes. She is disgusted that a socially inferior, working class used her name.

Inspector Calls... Memes?

The four other themes of An Inspector Calls on OxNotes are Responsibility, Conflict between characters and classes, Sexism and Gender Differences and Age Divide Between Generations. Click the links to visit those themes.