How has Priestley used the characters in the play to present his views about the social class system?
J.B Priestly used all of his characters to send a specific message to the audience of 1945. The year the play is set, 1912, Hierarchy and class status were what society was built upon making it a crucial aspect in the play. However after World War One and World War Two, the class system was nearly non-existent. This was due to the aristocrats and working class having to work together during both wars. It opened the eyes to most people living in the UK that all people were equal. This is ultimately Priestley’s message.
To begin with, Mr Arthur Birling. It is quite clear from the start of the play that he viewed the Working and Lower Class as …show more content…
He is incredibly respectful towards the aristocrats and purposely lowers himself and grovels whenever an aristocrat is around. This can clearly be shown in the way he treats his wife continuously agreeing with her and looking up to her for advice. The polite ‘yes my dear’ clearly illustrates this. He also treats Gerald like some sort of king, sucking up to him and wishing to be business partners with the Crofts instead of rivals. He tells Gerald ‘my daughter is lucky to have you’. This clearly shows that whilst he cares for his daughter to have a comfortable future, he cares more about his social status, making Arthur Birling a social …show more content…
He uses and exploits people of a low social class purely because he has the power to do so. However he completely disagrees with the class system. He calls it ‘tough luck’ implying that the social hierarchy is unfair. He goes as far as to challenge his father saying ‘why shouldn’t they try for higher wages’ but at the end of the day he is a product of society.
Towards the upper class, Eric knows that he is inferior to Gerald and allows him to mock him because he has little to no power to stop him. He also enjoys the privileges of being part of the upper class and I believe a small part of him does not want anything to change.
Priestly uses Eric to show that many people – especially the younger generation in the higher class do not agree with the class system however they do not fight it because they enjoy the privileges of being wealth and known in society. Both audiences of 1945 and 2016 do not like how Eric treats the lower class, despite his socialist ideologies but at the end respect him because he is able to take responsibility for his
J.B Priestly used all of his characters to send a specific message to the audience of 1945. The year the play is set, 1912, Hierarchy and class status were what society was built upon making it a crucial aspect in the play. However after World War One and World War Two, the class system was nearly non-existent. This was due to the aristocrats and working class having to work together during both wars. It opened the eyes to most people living in the UK that all people were equal. This is ultimately Priestley’s message.
To begin with, Mr Arthur Birling. It is quite clear from the start of the play that he viewed the Working and Lower Class as …show more content…
He is incredibly respectful towards the aristocrats and purposely lowers himself and grovels whenever an aristocrat is around. This can clearly be shown in the way he treats his wife continuously agreeing with her and looking up to her for advice. The polite ‘yes my dear’ clearly illustrates this. He also treats Gerald like some sort of king, sucking up to him and wishing to be business partners with the Crofts instead of rivals. He tells Gerald ‘my daughter is lucky to have you’. This clearly shows that whilst he cares for his daughter to have a comfortable future, he cares more about his social status, making Arthur Birling a social …show more content…
He uses and exploits people of a low social class purely because he has the power to do so. However he completely disagrees with the class system. He calls it ‘tough luck’ implying that the social hierarchy is unfair. He goes as far as to challenge his father saying ‘why shouldn’t they try for higher wages’ but at the end of the day he is a product of society.
Towards the upper class, Eric knows that he is inferior to Gerald and allows him to mock him because he has little to no power to stop him. He also enjoys the privileges of being part of the upper class and I believe a small part of him does not want anything to change.
Priestly uses Eric to show that many people – especially the younger generation in the higher class do not agree with the class system however they do not fight it because they enjoy the privileges of being wealth and known in society. Both audiences of 1945 and 2016 do not like how Eric treats the lower class, despite his socialist ideologies but at the end respect him because he is able to take responsibility for his