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AN INSPECTOR CALLS: Sheila Birling - Coggle Diagram
AN INSPECTOR CALLS: Sheila Birling
CLASS
she abused her status at Milwards as a wealthy customer when she insisted they fire Eva just because she was jealous
"you used the power you had [...] to punish the girl"
- Inspector
YOUNG VS OLD
she uses slang expressions such as
"squiffy"
, reminding the audience that Sheila is a part of the younger generation
when she gets the ring she's very excited and looks to her mother for approval when she says
"Look- Mummy- isn't it a beauty?"
She jokes with Gerald, but the stage directions say that she's
"half serious, half playful"
. Her childishness may be a way to hide her serious concerns about her relationship with Gerald
at the beginning of the play she is presented as being childish
Priestley uses Sheila and Eric to show that there's hope for change in the new generation.
Priestley makes her seem childish at first. It makes her involvement in Eva's death seem like the result of immaturity, making it easier to forgive her.
"The famous younger generation who know it all"
- Mr Birling (sarcastic) - Even though Mr Birling s sarcastic, Priestly shows that the only ones who have changed are Eric and Sheila- the others remain unwilling to change
"You frighten me the way you talk"
LEARNING ABOUT LIFE
Towards the end of the play Sheila is seen to sensitive and moral and has changed for good
over the events of the evening she learns more and feels she has to be herself and break away from her parents
"I'm not a child"
After the Inspector goes, her parents wants everyhting to return to the way it was. Sheila and Eric are the only ones who see that they all have to change.
out of all the characters, Sheila is the one who changes the most
She takes the inspector's side in a lot of this and even seems to help him as they're both after the truth- she ends up adopting some of his techniques- she asks Gerald as many questions as the inspector does, she reveals Eric's drinking problem to her mother, she contradicts and undermines her parents as the inspector does- When she's giving the ring back to Gerald she tells her father
"Don't interfere"
, she shocks Eric by telling him that is mother refused to help Eva, they also both move the dicussion on quickly by suddenly startling the listeners.
Sheila see that the Inspector attacks the other's confidence by asking questions which he does to to break down the
"wall"
which they've out between themselves and the girl- Sheila wants to do the same
Priestley gives Sheila lots of witty lines to make her seem sharp. Sheila's wit lets her undermine the authority of the others as she makes jokes at their expense
SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM
"But these girls aren't cheap labour- they're people"
- this shows her seeing them as individuals rather than a group, she is seen to have some socialist views form the start
RESPONSIBILITY
Sheila acknowledges that she used her power to punish Eva, but she regrets her actions and is eager to learn from the consequences.
Priestley uses her as a moral judge at the end of the play- she says **"probably between us we killed her. The others don't get as far as admitting that.
She tells Gerald she must respect him for being
"honest"
. She also knows the family must stop these
"silly pretences"
.
Before Gerald leaves, she hands back the engagement ring, saying that they are changed people-
"You and I aren't the same people who sat down to dinner here."
Sheila's final line adds some ambiguity to how the audience sees her character. When Gerald offers her the ring back she replies,
"it's too soon, I must think"
. Her hesitation shows that she's been affected by the Inspector's message- she needs to think about the kind of life she wants to lead/ But she leaves open the possibility of taking Gerald back and returning to normal- this could hint that even Sheila might eventually forget the Inspector's lesson
GENDER
Her engagement is used by her father for business reasons
"perhaps we may look forward to the time where Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but working together"
We can guess that the role of women at this time was to get married, we are told about Eric's "public-school-and-Varsity life" but it never talks about Sheila going to school or doing any sort of work
"She was a very pretty girl"
- Sheila is comparing herself to Eva
"She was the right type for it, just as I was the wrong type"
This shows the societal pressure on girls and their appearances and the desire to look a certain way
Even upper class women had few choices. For most, the best they could hope for was to impress a rich man and marry well- which could explain why Sheila spent so long in Milwoods.
"I'd persuade mother to close our account with them[if Eva wasn't fired]"
proves that she goes there a lot.