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Sheila’s Role In “An inspector calls” by J. B. Priestley
In ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestley portrays Sheila as an important character who develops throughout the play. The role of Sheila in this play was to create tension and dramatic effect on the audience. Sheila was first mentioned in the stage directions, ‘Sheila is a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and excited’. Priestley’s social message is that the life of the younger generation that was part of the upper class revolved around money and themselves, thus is a character such Sheila could change as anyone else could. Therefore, they have no idea about the cruel reality of the real world.
Priestley is trying to show the audience that some people’s living are incorrect and that they have to change the way they do things. Sheila is shown as a girl who has a very dependant relationship with her parents as she calls them “daddy” and “mummy” instead of just calling them mum and dad. This strongly suggests that Sheila is behaving as a child due to her not making decisions fo herself. However, she relies on her paents for everything. Sheila is very happy at the start of the play; the celebration is the announcement of her engagement. Although she seems to be in anticipation, the events that she is expecting, do not play out as she has thought. Sheila’s first line ‘You’re squiffy’ shows that Sheila is a bit childish and doesn’t follow the rules of her class.
There is an irony in the line ‘I drink to you Gerald’ and his reply, because at first audience believe that they are actually in love but when the events unfold we discover they are not. When Gerald gives her the ring her reaction ‘Oh-its wonderful! Look- Mummy- isn’t it a beauty? Oh – darling – [She kisses Gerald hastily]’. Sheila is asked to leave the room by Mr Birling so they can talk about business. Sheila re-enters and asks ‘what’s this all about’ Birling says that ‘there isn’t a slightest reason why my daughter should be dragged in to this sort of business’. It is ironic that Birling wants to protect her because she’s a young women but he didn’t care protecting Eva. This shows that Mr Birling was sexist and hypocritical. When Sheila is introduced to Eva’s death she shows instant sympathy. Sheila says ‘I cant help thinking about this girl destroying herself so horribly – and I’ve been so happy tonight’.
Sheila implies that Eva’s death had ruined her night and that everything is just about her. However, when the inspectors shows the picture to Sheila she runs out crying. Straightaway Sheila recognised her. This reaction shows the audience that Sheila understands what she has done and regrets it. This is in contrast to Birling who kept denying responsibilities. When Sheila returns she’s ready to accept her guilt. ‘ I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse’. She’s willing to accept her mistake. Again, in contrast to Birling Sheila answers Inspectors question s readily and honestly and reflects on her behaviour. ‘I was in a furious temper… it was my own fault.’. Now we can see how the character of Sheila changes from a little girl from a rich family to an independent women who is ready to make her own decisions and accept her mistakes. She promises not to do it again to anybody. From this point her role changes from being accused to helping the inspector with his investigations. At the end of act 1 Sheila’s dramatic function is to raise tension in the audience and set up the remaining two acts. ‘He knows and I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see’. Act 2 begins with Gerald patronising Sheila ‘she’s had a long exciting and tiring day’, however Sheila refuses to leave the room. She realises that Gerald had never really loved her not so much for having an affair but for his cruel remark; you’ve been through it and now you want somebody alse go through it’.
Sheila realised that if he really loved her he wouldn’t of said that. Sheila is also the first character to suspect that the inspector is not a police man. ‘I don’t understand about you’, and warns her mother ‘you’re beginning all wrong, you mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl’. Sheila also assists the inspector through revealing that Eric is a heavy reader. She then appears to quite enjoy Gerald’s humiliation through sarcastic remarks like ‘you meant Buckingham Palace,’ referring to him us ‘the hero’. (The hero of his own story). She’s aware that Gerald had cheated on her, Sheila not only chanhes opinion about him but reconsiders whether she will or not marry him. This is a dramatic change because Sheila is known as someone who has no choise of what to say. This impies that Sheila began to stand up for herself. When Gerald had finished his confession Sheila hands him the ring’ realising that ‘you and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.’ From this point it’s clear that Sheila had already changed from a materialistic girl to an adult.
Sheila’s role in the final stages of the play is to continue judging other members of her family e.g. ‘mother I think it was cruel and vial. Sheila also realises the trap that the inspector had laid for Mrs Birling when she implicates Eric, ‘mother stop, stop’. This shows that Sheila became much more intelligent in terms of understanding the inspector which would of helped, however Mrs Birling decides not to listen to Sheila and kept denying everything what the Inspector said.
