Tips

• Characters are constructs they represent ideas and themes, Priestley uses the characters to create a message. connect characters to themes

• Remember it’s a play → there’s an audience and stagecraft (lighting/structure/set/dialogue)

• always reference Eva Smith, she is the main character

• Mention both 1912 and 1945 detailed context points linked to Priestley’s message

1912 - few rights for women, no votes, marriage essential role for upper class women, mistreatment and exploitation of lower class women, no NHS, no benefits, factory worker strikes, poor working and living conditions

1945 - class divide broke, votes for women, more roles for women during WW2, changes from Clement Attlee’s government: Welfare state, NHS, socialist policies

Sheila - symbol of change

• Feminist values (fighting patriarchy) - 1945 audience, relate to Sheila, able to vote

• Socialist values (fighting capitalism) - rejects parents’ (capitalist) values, standard to 1912 society