Sheila

• Sheila


  • Priestley uses her to explore the power of the individual in a biased society
  • Priestley uses her to challenge ideas about gender
• In the opening moments of the play, Priestley presents Sheila as an immature materialistic character
• Despite the stage directions telling us that Sheila is in her early twenties, she refers to her parents as "mummy" and "daddy"
• Sheila's comment about the engagement ring and how she will never let it go out of her sight presents her as materialistic
• Eric comments that Sheila and Mrs Birling are talking about clothes when they retire to the drawing room in Act 1
• Early in Act 1, Gerald inquires of Sheila "I've been trying long enough, haven't I?" but it is Mrs Birling who interrupts and replies in Sheila's place
• Gerald tries to have Sheila removed from the room during his interrogation, telling the Inspector "I think Miss Birling ought to be excused"
• It is clear early on that Sheila is not treated as an equal by anyone
• At the time the play was set, women were treated as inferior to men
• Eric is undoubtedly more immature than Sheila, but he isn't treated like a child in the way she is
• Sheila's treatment by others reflects how women were considered as having an inferior role within a male-dominated society
• This attitude to women as inferior is one of the causes of Eva Smith's death
• After the Inspector's interrogation, Sheila begins to change as a character
• Sheila's words to Gerald of "You fool, he knows" demonstrate a dramatic shift in her personality
• The little girl who was cooing over a ring has gone, and her passivity has been replaced with a fiery indignation
• The sarcastic "You're forgetting I'm supposed to be engaged to the hero" cuts through Gerald's attempt to romanticize the story of his interactions with Eva
• The maturity behind Sheila's cool returning of the ring, as opposed to a tantrum, implies to the audience that this is a woman who is now not governed by her emotions but by logic and reason
• Priestley seems to be suggesting that the audience should aspire to be like Sheila - they should own the mistakes they've made and make others accountable for their own mistakes too
• Priestley presents Sheila as a character who quickly learns the Inspector's message of social responsibility, unlike her parents
• When the Inspector leaves in Act 3, Sheila in some ways takes on his role, interrogating her family and Gerald
• Sheila mirrors the language used previously by the Inspector, showing how she has not only learned his viable lesson but has in some way taken on his role
• Through his presentation of Sheila, Priestley encourages the audience to challenge conventional thinking and to question the behavior of others, holding those to account who have power over us even if that means rejecting those who are close to us and rethinking our own world views