As soon as they meet in act one, Birling attempts to show his social superiority to the Inspector, boasting about his contacts in the police force, this shows Birlings character and the type of person he is, big headed and boastfull. Within the play Mr and Mrs Birling seems to be the only characters that are unable to accept the fact that they helped in the death of eva smith. In contrast to Mr and Mrs Birling Sheila has total opposite views and realises what she did was wrong, and wishes that she could go back and never get Eva sacked-…
- At the end of the play, Sheila is much wiser. She now views her parents and Gerald from a new perspective. She now…
After Mr Birling, the next character the Inspector questions is Sheila. Although Sheila is a young girl, she is of a high class, so she does therefore have some power. She too abuses her power and orders to have Eva Smith fired from her job when shopping because Sheila thought Eva was laughing at her. She says ‘If she was a pathetic looking…
How does Priestley use the character of Sheila Birling to deliver his message to the audience?…
Nervously, Mr Birling is able to take charge of the situation and continue his speech about the engagement. In this speech Mr Birling objectifies his daughter as “something good to be married to”. We know this because he addresses Gerald and regularly mentions how “She’ll (Sheila) make you happy”. Though Mr Birling’s power is tested when embarrassed by the Inspector. The Inspector bluntly confronts him for his terrible…
The beginning is almost like a red-herring, -a distraction from what is truly underneath, deceit. The engagement is as if meant to be a formality, a ring binding to households together, but no their hearts. We are let on to this fact, especially when Sybil calls both Sheila and Eric out of the dining room for assistance in something or other, which triggers off the feeling that perhaps that’s not all she is calling them out for, after all she has Edna the maid servant to be of help to her. Sheila enters the room just after Mr Birling confesses, and is shown to be more inquisitive than the rest of the family present at the scene; Sheila; “What’s this all about? Mr Birling; “Nothing to do with you, Shiela.Run along. Sheila: “What business? What’s happening?”, The above shows that Sheila is interested in what is going on and is a curious character, however her interest is brushed aside by Mr Birling, who treats Sheila like a child even shoo-ing her off as if she were a dog, yet his treatment towards her doesn’t discourage her to stop asking questions, in fact she goes on asking, showing that she is also an insistent person. She has moved on from the celebratory occasion, and doesn’t bring up the subject throughout the entire interrogation,…
In Act One, Sheila and her family are celebrating her engagement to Gerald Croft. Although Sheila is excited and full of joy, she can’t help but wonder why Gerald spent all of last summer avoiding her and blaming it on work, as it says on page 3, “(half serious, half playfully) Yes - except all last summer when you never came near me, and I wondered what had happened to you.” Sheila’s tone with Gerald is quite serious sometimes, even when she is trying to be playful.…
Priestley’s portrays Mrs Birling as a snobbish, cold-hearted and unsympathetic woman but she pretends to be sympathetic towards Eva Smiths’ death. Yet she was the one who worked in the women’s charity organisation and refused to help her in the first place - highlighting her harsh and uncaring nature. Also, Mrs Birling feigns to be oblivious towards her son’s drinking and pretends that she is an eloquent, sophisticated and well-mannered woman.nevertheless; the way she behaves to inspector Goole is one of rudeness, disrespect and impertinence.…
The grandmother makes a series of choices which leads to her and her family’s fatal altercation with The Misfit. On their way to Florida, the grandmother had taken a nap, and as they were driving “outside of Toomsboro, she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in [that] neighborhood once when she was a young lady.” (7) During her explanation, she lied about a secret panel which contained all of the owners’ silver. Upon hearing about this, the children became enthused about potentially visiting the house. After Bailey denied their requests, “the children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the secret panel,” (7) causing the father to give in to their demands and drive to it, a major diversion…
Sheila when she sees the ring ‘is this the one you wanted me to have.’ - emphasises that Sheila is Gerald’s possession.…
An Inspector Calls is a definitive play written by J.B Priestley. It explores the many themes that wove through society before the first world war, such lack of social responsibility, social disparity between different classes and the gap of understanding and contemplating between the two dissimilar generations – the young and the old. In this essay, I will be exploring the character Sheila Birling and how and why does she change in the play, in response to the Inspector and to her family.…
Mrs Birling is Mr Birling’s social superior (Priestley tells us this in the stage directions) and we see that when Mrs Birling tells Mr Birling off when he said that the food was good in front of Gerald, as upper class families do not address their help. This tells us that Mrs Birling takes social etiquette very seriously- believing that a good reputation will improve her family’s status. It also tells us that even though Mr Birling is head of the household, Mrs Birling’s social background makes her the one in control of the marriage- just like Gerald. Also when Mrs Birling talks about marriage, stating that, “When you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.” Priestley makes Mrs Birling consider marriage like it’s more of a…
Sheila starts out in the play as a very spoilt girl, and also seems rather shallow. Several things give us this impression in the first scene, for example her reaction to her engagement ring: “Oh Mummy – isn’t it a beauty?!” She also appears quite naive, despite her curiosity as to where her fiancé Gerald spent his summer last year. However, as soon as the Inspector starts to interview the family, we see an altogether different side of her. She shows compassion immediately when hearing about her father’s poor treatment of Eva Smith in his factory: “But these girls aren’t just cheap labour – they’re people”. She is also horrified by her own part in Eva's story. She feels full of guilt for her jealous actions and blames herself as "really responsible."…
He is proud of his status and reminds other of it (pg. 8 "knighthood" p.10 "Bench"), especially when trying to put the Inspector in his place (p.16 "golf"). He is so uneasy about these matters that he is uneasy about Gerald marrying Sheila (pg. 8). At the end of the play it is the possible loss of his knighthood that bothers him most, not his conscience (pg. 57).…
Sheila Birling, perhaps is a representation of a very stereotypical female. Naive, probably is the most suitable word to describe this young innocent woman who is marked by unaffected simplicity. Her infantalisation can be seen by referring her parents as 'mummy' and 'daddy'. Moreover, she referred the death of Eva Smith as 'an accident' in 'Oh-how horrible! Was it an accident?' when it mustn't be 'an accident'. Sheila presents the idea that woman in this era was only seen as an object, a vase who only has a beautiful appearance and nothing else. The repetition of the word 'admiringly' when Sheila looks at her ring, we see what's Sheila cares most is her appearance, this can also be reflected when she became jealous of Eva in the shop. This characteristic of Sheila reflected the life of a woman in this era was only suppose to dress themselves beautifully and to get married. Her diction reflects her initial happiness at the start of the play; she specks in a light, joking voice about 'these purpled-faced old man' who know all about port, and in 'mock aggressiveness' to Gerald as the whether he might 'object' to jointing her…