Eva Smith

Arguably the most important character within the play, we never see or hear from Eva Smith herself. As such, she is a construct used by Priestley to represent the everyday man or woman: a humble member of the working class just trying to survive in a system not made to support them. To me, she is reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s Mrs de Winter from the novel Rebecca: they are both women who are stripped of autonomy in one way or another. Whilst the reader never learns the real name of Mrs De Winter, the audience is never allowed to meet Eva Smith due to the callous actions of the characters onstage, thereby evidencing her limited power in her own life.