“Oh how horrible! Was it an accident?” Sheila accepts that she is partly to blame for Eva ‘s sucide because she got her fired from Milwards shop. The audience feels sympathy for Sheila because she tells the truth and felt sorry for it at the time. Everyone else in the family denies their part in Eva ‘s death.
At the beginning of Act 2 we found out that Gerald had an affair with Eva Smith because of that Sheila breaks up her relationship with him. Sheila finds that she does not have much in common with her family anymore and she doesn’t believe them anymore.
Mrs. Birling tells her daughter not to contradict her and that “Girls of that class” often do silly things, Sheila is horrified “mother, don’t – please don’t for your own sake, as well as ours, you mustn’t”. This shows that Sheila realises we are all equal no matter what class we are from, whereas the rest of her family just try to avoid blame.
By Act 3 the Inspector has shown that everyone is part of what happened to Eva Smith. He leaves and the family are left to consider what he said. Sheila believes that the things the Inspector said were right and she realises that it doesn’t matter if he wasn’t a real Inspector or Eva Smith is not dead.
The audience stays on the side of Sheila because she cares about people and doesn’t seem as arrogant as the rest of the family; she is also willing to admit her mistakes at the end of the play, the family are convinced they don’t need to change but the phone call right at the end proves Sheila right. “That was the police. A girl has just died – on her way to infirmary- after small- owing some disinfectant”. This shows that the family will again find out that they are to blame.
An Inspector Calls is known as a well-made play. This is because the characters and audience finds things out at the same time. The essence of drama is change and Sheila is the character who changes most. She experiences considerable conflict in the play, breaking off her engagement and arguing with her parents about their attitudes towards society.
Her transformation takes place entirely on stage, her sympathy for Eva Smith and her mature understanding of how society is responsible for her situation are dramatically contrasted with her parents’ stubborn refusal to face up to reality. By the end of the play Priestly hopes that we, like Sheila, will have realised our responsibility for other people.
