Sheila's Role In An Inspector Calls

The play “An Inspector calls” is written by the author J.B Priestley, all three acts are taken place in the dining-room of the Birlings’ house in Brumply, an industrial city in the North Midlands. The time it was set was an evening in spring, 1912. The play was first produced at the New Theatre in October, 1946. The story contains the characters: Arthur Birling, Sybil Birling, Eric Birling, Gerald Croft, Edna and INSPECTOR GOOLE. The detective thriller really gets the audience’s attention, from the build up to what's going to happen next, the cliff hanger round each corner to the terrible twists near to the end, these kind of things really catch the eye of the reader and makes them want to read more and more into the book. The lifelike picture …show more content…
The whole setting in the dining-room was to celebrate the engagement of Sheila and Gerald, Sheila is a very playful and joyful character at the start of the play but as she gradually discovers through the interrogation of her family and how it effected Eva Smith, her personality changes!

J. B. Priestley describes her as "a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited," which is really how she comes across in the first act of the play. In the second and third acts, following the scene that she has played a part in Eva Smith's death, she matures and comes to realise the importance of The Inspector's message. Priestly presents the character of Sheila very well. He uses a variety of special techniques. Priestly chose a detailed description above to describe Sheila Birling in the opening stage directions, the writer is trying to point out that Sheila is a happy, joyful and pleasant young lady. In the beginning the stage directions for Sheila are, “gaily, possessively,” “with mock aggressiveness,” and “half serious, half playful,” from just the first 3 stage directions of Sheila you can already tell she has a more serious, demanding side to …show more content…
I definitely see where Sheila is coming from and I think it's not the time for their parents to be self-centred, stubborn and un remorseful “I accept no blame for it all,”especially since it's basically a murder! The writer also uses another technique, use of dashes (-). These cab be used for many things; hesitation, references, dramatic effect or emphasis. “I'd hate you to know all about port - like one of these purple faced old men,” in this sentence the dash is used as Sheila paused in her sentence to refer to “purple faced old men.” Inspector Goole himself could be classified as quite a major dramatic device as his character constantly keeps the play in motion. The Inspector has different ways of making the Birlings confess to their part as he first recognises the type of person they are; strong points and weak points, then targets them. This makes Shelia increasingly vulnerable as she reacts with the most regret and sincerity. “She almost breaks down but controls herself,” “I felt rotten about it at the time and now