What do you think Eva Smith's character represents within the social context of the play?

Eva Smith's relationship to all of the characters at the dinner party was one in which they were forced to admit a large element of guilt. None of the family memebers treated her with respect, and all of them had a role to play in her untimely death. It would be fair to argue that each family member held a different level of accountabilty; but without each members interference, Eva's life would have been drastically different.  Mrs Birling's role, one could argue, was the most pivital; as she was the last to come into contact with Eva. She refused help to Eva, without realising it was Eric's child she was pregnant with, and it was this that finally pushed Eva to commit suicide. Indeed, one could easily argue that Sheila's role was far smaller than that of her mothers. Sheila required Eva's boss to fire her for the simple fact that Eva smirked when a dress Sheila was trying on didnt suit her. Of course, Shelia's actions here are shown to be spoilt and prejuduce of the poor; however, they could also be percieved as nieve and less appaling than refusung to help a destitute pregant woman, as her mother did. Thus, it is clear that Eva's charector was a plot device created by Preistley to represent the stark contast of class and wealth of people living amongst  eachother in the same society. She has been written as a charector to show the dismissivness of the wealthy over that of the poor, and to highlight to the audience how a seemingly small action of theirs could have a life changing impact on those around them. So, it is clear that Eva Smiths charector was created to highlight the guilt of the rich at the time of writting, as well as their huge differences in life quality.

Answered by Esther T. English tutor

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