Sheila’s Character – Sheila is a pretty young woman in her early twenties. She has a rather enthusiastic and jovial character, and is content with what life has given her. She respects her father, and is polite towards him (Example – ‘I’m sorry Daddy. Actually I was listening’ – Page 6). This respect is only apparent at the beginning of the play as her attitude towards him dramatically differs toward the end (Example – ‘(tensely) I want to get out of this. It frightens me the way you talk’). Her attitude changes the most significantly during the play, compared to her family and Gerald. She could have easily been described as a rather spoilt young woman at the start, but during the play her character feels more and more ashamed of her actions and her overall characteristics. She grows more as a person, and learns the true moral of the play – Everyone is responsible for their own actions.
Mr. Birling’s Character – Mr. Birling is a portentous man with a significant role in the Birling Family – he wants to keep their status high and gain as much respect as possible. He tries his best to use his status to make the Inspector feel intimidated-
‘BIRLING: How do you get on with our chief constable, Colonel Roberts?
INSPECTOR: I don’t see much of him.
BIRLING: Perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently.’
Mr. Birling’s efforts to put off the inspector don’t work though, to his obvious dismay. His clear motto that he proudly says at the dinner table is ‘Every man for himself’ which is the complete contrary to the moral of the play.
Mrs. Birling’s character – Mrs. Birling, like her husband – is a very proud woman. She has a fairly wealthy man by her side, and two children that are finally reaching adulthood. She wants the best for her children, and wishes nothing but the best for Sheila’s marriage. You could say that she is the ‘typical’ upper-middle class woman of her era by her approach to accepting her husband’s work (Example: ‘When you’re married you’ll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business’.) Toward the end of the play there is a clear difference of opinion between her and her daughter (Examples:
‘MRS. B: (Sharply) To behave sensibly, Sheila – which is more than you’re doing.’
‘SHEILA: …You’re just beginning to pretend all over again.’)
Whilst Sheila learns an important factor of life during the play, her mother does not stray from her belief that the Birling family was not to blame for the death of Eva Smith. Sheila is frustrated at her parents’ attitude towards the girl’s death. When, at the end, Gerald discovers that Inspector was not in fact a real inspector – Sybil and Arthur are keen to put the experience in the past and forget about their terrible actions. This is something that Sheila does not agree with, as she feels that whether the inspector was real or not, everything that they admitted to doing still happened.
Act 1-
In act one, Sheila is rather possessive over Gerald - We see this in the line ‘I should jolly well think not. I’d hate you to know all about port.’ This line can be exaggerated raising your eyes at the thought of Gerald turning into a ‘purple-face old man’. In contrast to Sheila’s infuriated emotions toward her mother at the end of the play, in Act one Sheila is high-spirited and far more comfortable around her mother ‘Yes go on Mummy. You must drink our health.’ You should try to emphasize your smile, and try your best to be a ‘Mummy’s-girl’.
On page three Sheila speaks to Gerald in a ‘half-serious, half-playful’ tone. Sheila is unsure how to react to Gerald’s comments concerning why he was so ‘busy at the works’, but considering that she is surrounded by her close family, she decides to speak in more teasing way, ‘Yes, that’s what you say.’
But when Eric laughs Sheila becomes hesitant, and more severe ‘Now – what’s the joke’, but you should act as though you are brushing it off your shoulder when you comment on Eric being ‘squiffy’.
Later when Mr. Birling is making a toast to your character and Gerald, Eric says rather noisily ‘She’s got a nasty temper sometimes’, when you reply ‘I can’t drink to this, can I?’ You should smile, with a mock aggressiveness, and look dreamily into Gerald eyes when he says ‘You can drink to me’.
When Sheila enters the room during the Inspectors conversation with Mr. Birling, Eric and Gerald, she at first doesn’t notice the inspector so ‘gaily’ strolls in, and hears the inspector mention ‘streets’, so curiously asks ‘what’s this about streets? She continues to be inquisitive ‘what business? What’s happening?’ When she finally finds out what it is that they are discussing she is horrified and overwhelmed with distress ‘Oh – how horrible! Was it an accident?’ She asks questions about Eva, (about her age and appearance). When the Inspector claims that he came to speak to not only Mr. Birling -Sheila should show a bewildered expression, as does not like to think that she is responsible for something that she has just expressed being mortified by. She claims never to have heard the name Eva Smith, and almost tries to rid herself of the blame by accusing her father of being ‘mean’ for sacking her and states that it may have ‘spoilt everything for her.’ She is genuinely upset for Eva’s death though, and during the course of the inspectors interrogation she is naturally rather defensive ‘I’d been in a bad temper anyhow’, but she eventually accepts that she has not acted correctly ‘..I’ll never, never do it again to anybody.’ You should speak in an almost pleading tone of voice, because you have realised just how much your needless deed has affected, and you regret doing what you usually wouldn’t have done.
