At the start of the play we can also see that Arthur is very keen for the marriage to go ahead because he talks about Birling and Croft’s Ltd joining together, which implies that he is more concerned about his business than his own daughter, “look forward to the time when Croft and Birling’s are no longer competing but are working together”.
We can also see that he cares a lot for money at the start of the play because when he is talking about the merging of Crofts Ltd with Birling’s he says that the two companies should work together “ for lower costs and higher prices”.
The final thing we can learn about Arthur’s character at the start of the play is that he is very foolish and yet thinks he is very wise which is shown on two occasions. The first being when he is talking about war and he says “I say there isn’t a chance of war”, which we know was very wrong because not only was there a war but it turned in to a world war! The second is when he is talking about the titanic and he says that titanic is “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” which again was to prove wrong. This therefore shows that he is very foolish and yet believes he is very wise!
In contrast in the opening scene we can see Sheila being a possessive character because just after her father and Gerald talk about the port, she says “I should jolly well think not, Gerald. I’d hate you to know all about port”.
We can also see that she is young because of the language that she uses, for example she tells her brother Eric that he is drunk in the opening scene “you’re squiffy” and “don’t be an ass Eric”.
Sometimes we see that Sheila can be a serious character because she says in Act 1 to Gerald in a serious tone “except for all last summer when, you never came near me”.
The final that we can see about Sheila is that she doesn’t appear to like her father’s arrogance, because when her father is talking about the port she indirectly calls him a “purple faced old man”. Because he had been talking a lot about port she also says “ you don’t know all about port do you?”
However both characters show similarities in the opening sequence, for example they both think of themselves very highly as if they were important to society. This is shown in Sheila when she thinks all the attention should be on her, when her father is talking to Gerald about business, Mrs Birling says that they should not be talking about business on such an occasion followed by Sheila in agreement with her mother who says “Neither do I. All wrong”. This self-importance is also shown in Arthur when he talks to Gerald about himself possibly being knighted, he tells Gerald this because Gerald’s mother is not to keen on the marriage, hoping that she will hear of this because he knows this marriage will help his business in making more money. “ I might find my way in to the next honours list. Just a knighthood of course”.
We can learn more about the characters from when the inspector enters, and their reactions to him when he reveals the death of Eva Smith. When Arthur hears how he has been involved with the death of Eva Smith because he fired her from a job she had at Birling’s, he appears a very reluctant/stubborn character to accept any responsibility for her death “ I can’t accept any responsibility”. He again reveals how he has a concern and pride in his business when explaining why he fired Eva Smith, “It is my duty to keep labour costs down……we were paying the usual rates”.
When Sheila hears how she was involved in Eva’s death by getting her fired from Milwards “get rid of that girl”, she reacts in the total opposite way to her father, because she appears as an agreeable character and accepts that she was partly to blame for Eva’s death “it was my own fault……….you knew it was me all along”. She even at this point seems willing to change “if I could help her now, I would”.
The arrival of the inspector and his story about Eva Smith highlights many characteristics that both Sheila and Arthur have in common. The first of which is that they are both very stubborn, which is shown in Arthur by his repetitive refusal to accept any responsibility for the death of Eva Smith. “I can’t accept any responsibility……..I was quite justified……..it happened more than eighteen moths ago”.
This stubbornness is shown in Sheila when she refuses to leave the room after the inspector has finished questioning her “then i'm staying”.
The second similarity between them is their confusion as to who and why the inspector is, when they are first introduced to him. Arthur says “you’re new aren’t you?……I don’t understand why you should come here inspector?, therefore showing Arthur’s confusion. Sheila says “what’s all this about……What Business? What happening?” therefore highlighting the fact that Sheila hasn’t got a clue about what is going on and is confused about the inspector.
The first similarity highlighted by the arrival of the inspector is how they both think of themselves as important people in society and better off than lower classes. This is shown in Arthur when he ‘threatens’ the inspector by saying that he knows the chief constable “perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine” therefore trying top show that he is regarded as being high up in society. This is shown in Sheila in her story about managing to get Eva fired form her job, and she says that she simply “caught her smiling at the assistant” and because Sheila believed that she was high in society that this girl should be fired for smiling “I went to the manager…..and I told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near the place again”.
We can learn more about their characteristics from the way that they talk and react to each other. It appears that they are both argumentative towards each other for example in the opening lines Arthur is boasting about his port and Sheila says 9directing it at her father) “I’d hate you to know all about port like one of these purple faced old men” to which he replies “here, I’m not a purple faced old man”.
It also appears that neither of them have a great respect for the other which is shown on two occasions. The first being that Arthur continues to talk about business on an occasion meant to be celebrating his daughter’s marriage, which is highlighted when Mrs Birling says, “Arthur I don’t think you ought to talk about business on an occasion like this” and Sheila agrees.
The second time is when the inspector accuses Arthur for being partly responsible for Eva’s death and instead of helping her father Sheila seems to join in the accusation of him, because Arthur defends himself as if he had nothing to do with it, then Eric says “that might have started it” and so Sheila says “did you, dad?” as if what he had done was so terrible that she couldn’t believe it. Therefore it appears that they do not have a very good relationship.
By the end of the play when it is revealed that the inspector is an impostor we can learn a little more about their characters. What is clear to us as the audience is that Arthur’s attitude does not change through out the entire play and he remains stubborn and learns nothing from what inspector Goole has highlighted, and so continues as he would have done before, “the famous younger generation who know it all. And they can’t even take a joke”. This shows that Arthur remains a stubborn “hard headed businessman”.
In contrast Sheila again is the total opposite to her father. She still feels guilty and is a kind hearted girl because she realises she is going to have to change her ways, she tells the others “ you’re just beginning to pretend all over again as if they had done nothing wrong. Sheila admits that she has learnt a lesson from inspector Goole about being kinder to people. Therefore her character changes from being self indulgent and arrogant to being considerate and kind hearted.
