But Sheila’s attitude changes when she hears that a girl has taken her life partly because of her. She helped kill the girl because when the girl was working in Milwards (a high street shop) Sheila tried on a dress that did not suit her but which suited the girl. When Sheila remembers this incident, her attitude changes and she becomes thoughtful and silent. She becomes a socialist “ … I know I’m to blame and I’m desperately sorry…” But her father, Arthur Birling, is the complete opposite- he does not care about what he did when he helped kill Eva when he turned her out of her first job “I can’t accept any responsibility” As he is a capitalist, he is defensive of his actions although his daughter is not. This would make the audience more sympathetic of Sheila than of Arthur seeing as he does not regret his actions but Sheila does.
Sheila’s reaction to Gerald when she hears that Gerald went out with Eva is that of bitterness and anger “(bitterly) So that is what you think I’m really like. I’m glad I realised in time, Gerald.” This is that the relationship between Sheila and Gerald has not been a very strong one. The quote, “I don’t dislike you as much as I did half an hour ago, Gerald. In fact in some odd way, I rather respect you more than I’ve ever done before.” Makes the audience think that Sheila understands what he has been through and respects him for having the courage to confess in front of everyone and this makes the audience sympathise with her over Gerald’s infidelity.
Sheila’s attitude towards her mother changes when Sybil Birling (mother of Sheila) starts being interrogated by the inspector. Sheila tries to warn her mother of the inspector’s trap. “You mustn’t try to build up a wall between us and that girl. If you do, then the inspector will just break it down.” This clearly shows that Sheila is afraid and is awed by the inspector’s presence. Sybil, on the other hand is ignorant of the fact that the inspector that everyone in the family helped to kill the deceased Eva Smith. Sheila is also beginning to know who the inspector really is because she repeatedly tells her mother to stop trying to “build a wall.”
When the inspector leaves, Sheila’s attitude stays the same as when the Inspector was there. Arthur and Sybil start to pretend that nothing ever happened, Sheila checks them both. “You don’t seem to have learnt anything.” This tells the audience that she has changed from the superficial and smug looking girl into a matured young adult. During the play Sheila returns the engagement ring that Gerald gives her and when Arthur tells Sheila to take the ring back, she refuses and says, “You’re pretending everything’s just as it was before.” This is a good decision because she needs time to think and to calm down because of all the excitement and sordid revelations. Sheila has changed from the last time she was offered the ring because the events that took place and the disclosures of shame and misfortune have made her pensive whereas before she would have been in a jovial state.
Sheila develops the most during the play because at the beginning she is portrayed as a spoilt, superficial girl who really only likes material things but then as the play progresses she starts to change as she becomes pensive and starts to brood over the inspector. The characters that the author J.B.Priestley wants the audience to identify most with are Sheila and Eric because during the play both of them become socialists even when their parents are hardcore capitalists. For this reason the audience would want to identify with them the most. Sheila plays an important role in the play. The function she plays is that of a ‘conscience’ as she is always telling people if they are right or wrong. Without Sheila in the play, the Birlings would not have taken in all of what the inspector said and the audience would not have identified themselves with anybody.
