When the Inspector arrives and questions Mr Birling, Sheila responds shocked by the suicide but also she seems quite jealous of the girl and asks questions about her. ‘What was she like quiet young…pretty?’ This quotation shows us that Sheila is jealous and insecure; she wants everything too be perfect for her. It also shows her selfishness, a poor girl is dead and all Sheila cares about is whether the girl (Eva Smith) was better than her, Sheila is lacking sympathy and at this point Sheila is jealous and insecure and she also shows she is starting to recognise the girl and reconciling the past. The Inspector then turns on Sheila who is the only person who does accept some of the blame. Sheila tends to over-react with things and when she thought a dress she tried on at Milward’s looked better on the shop assistant (Eva Smith) than it did on her she became very angry, this was clearly shown when she says ‘when I was looking at myself in the mirror I caught sight of her smiling at the assistant, and I was furious with her. I’d been in bad mood anyhow.’ This explains how Sheila abused her status and forced the manager to either sack Eva or she would never shop at Milward’s again. She was jealous of her. After Sheila confessed to her part you start to see noticeable changes in her. ‘…if I could help her now, I would.’ This shows us that Sheila knows what she has done wrong and takes responsibility for her actions, she is becoming more independent and mature. This also shows she does regret her actions. Sheila is starting to change and develop.
The Inspector then turns on Gerald, Sheila already knows and understands what is going on, this shows us that Sheila is being perceptive and being more independent with life without her mother’s approval. There is by now an evident tension between Sheila and Gerald which becomes heightened when he admits that he had had an affair with Daisy Renton (Eva Smith) in the spring of the previous year. Whilst feeling angry with Gerald for his involvement with the girl she does have a certain respect for his openness and honesty with his admission. She also becomes wiser and does not value the same things she once valued before, she is not materialistic. She hands him the ring (stage directions). This stage direction tells us that the relationship between her and Gerald is over, she is more confident to follow her heart rather than materialistic objects. At the end of Act 2, she is the first to realise Eric's part in the story. Significantly, she is the first to wonder who the Inspector really is, saying to him, 'wonderingly', ‘ I don’t understand about you’ She warns the others ‘he's giving us the rope - so that we'll hang ourselves’ and, near the end, is the first to consider whether the Inspector may not be real. These quotations prove to us that Sheila is wiser, mature and not materialistic. Sheila in Act 2 is in total contrast to herself than in Act 1; she no longer values expensive items and is a lot more confident to speak her mind. (Laughs rather hysterically) ‘Why-you fool- he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see.’ This quotation shows that she is more alert about the Inspector and she knows he will bring a secret about one of them out into the open. She is becoming more confident and acting more like an adult and not afraid of speaking her mind. ‘Don’t interfere please father.’ This statement tells us that she is more confident and growing up, she say’s ‘father’ which also indicates that her child like ways are over, she is a lot more stern and forward. Sheila becomes more responsible and accepts what she had done wrong. ‘between us we killed her’ This shows that she has excepted what she has done wrong and feels guilty, she does take responsibility for her actions but wants her family to learn and change from their mistakes. Sheila is becoming more of a Socialist like the Inspector and in this act by Gerald confessing and other events happening it has caused her to change and develop her ways. In this act Sheila has fully changed and developed and taken responsibilities for her actions.
When Mrs Birling is being questioned by the Inspector she blatantly shows she has the least respect for him. She tries to intimidate him and when she is shown the picture of the body she lies to him and claims she does not recognise the girl. She tries to deny obvious facts about Eric’s drinking. Mrs Birling is a snob and looks down on the working class. ‘…gross impertinence…prejudiced me against her case…’ This quotation tells us that she is very aware of the differences between social classes and despises the working class. Mrs Birling’s reaction to the Inspector is in complete contrast to when Sheila was being questioned by the Inspector. Mrs Birling acted aggressive and confident towards the Inspector and also reminded him that she is higher class, whereas Sheila quickly became perceptive and worked with the Inspector. When Sheila’s mother is being questioned Sheila warns her mother. ‘Mother-stop-stop…but don’t you see-…’ This display’s Sheila understands as to what is happening around her and is warning her mother to stop before she regrets it. Sheila mainly changes and develops here because she is a lot more perceptive and understands where the Inspector is coming from.
When the Birling family all learn that the Inspector wasn’t really an Inspector Sheila and Eric’s response is in utter contrast to the rest of the family. Gerald Croft immediately assumes he can have Sheila back and asks her to be with him, Sheila simply replies ‘no not yet, it’s too soon I must think’. This shows us that Sheila cannot just forget what has happened, she is a different person she realises she was spoilt and desperately wants to change. Sheila feels that she wants to think about her future clearly instead of just marrying Gerald for the sake of it. She wants to find her own personality not one that someone else wants her to be. Mr and Mrs Birling are relieved that the Inspector was not real just because their high status and wealth would still be intact; Sheila is outraged with them and does not like their attitude towards their way of life. ‘ I tell you, whoever the Inspector was, it was anything but a joke you knew it then you began to learn something and now you have stopped’. This shows Sheila’s outrage that her parents are only happy because their status is still high on the hierarchy ladder, Sheila realises that just because the facts are not all there they should not go back to being Capitalists. Sheila shows a great deal of Socialism and tries to convince her parents with Eric that they are in the wrong. All these actions show that she and Eric have learnt their lesson and that Sheila has now matured and starting to build a new life for herself away from the parent’s Capitalist ways. Sheila has completely changed and developed here because she has opened her eyes and seen how her parents live and does not like the way they view life and treat others below them.
In Stephen Daldry’s production at the National Theatre Sheila, in Act One is presented wearing very expensive fashionable clothing indicating she is very materialistic. Sheila wears a lot of the colour white to make her seem pure on the outside but on the inside she is really hiding a dark secret. The white clothing is symbolising her to be pure and honest. She also wears gloves which symbolises her hiding her fingerprints like a criminal, she wants to appear pure and innocent. When Sheila is speaking in Act One the lighting placed on her has one half of her in light and her other half in darkness to symbolise that she is not totally perfect in the way she lives yet. Sheila has defensive, closed body language symbolising she is hiding something and does not want to speak out. In Act Two Steven Daldry presents Sheila having no gloves symbolising she has told the Inspector and is no longer hiding a secret, she also takes off her materialistic clothes and objects which show she is starting to change and develop. When Sheila is outside she puts her hands up in the rain illustrating her washing away all her sins and becoming truthful, she is now becoming more of a Socialist rather than a Capitalist. After ‘washing away her sins’ Sheila walks towards the light as if she is walking into a new life where she has no secrets. The rain and light symbolise purity and change in Sheila, the rain represents her rebirth, new life from now on and her body language is open. In Act Three when the Birling family realise the Inspector was a fake mr Birling and Mrs Birling drown out Sheila’s voice with their happiness, as the parents start to build their Capitalist lives back together Sheila and Eric stand outside the house symbolising that they don’t want to live their lives how they did before the Inspector came. Sheila has changed and developed and is now a Socialist.
Throughout the play Sheila Birling changed and developed. In Act One she was materialistic and could not stand up for herself, however in Act Two and Three she sees a different light and realises that she was a bad Capitalist and needed to change for the better. I think she has mainly changed because of the Inspector, if he had not of visited the family she would have still been selfish and a strong Capitalist who depended on her mother for approval. I believe that the point Priestly was trying to make was that people needed to be more caring about their community and the people in it. Priestley uses the character of the Inspector to convey his own thoughts, feelings and opinions about social issues. However, he also uses other characters, particularly Mr. Birling, to show the audience how cynical some people can be. J.B Priestly believed a great deal in Socialism. I think that Priestley set this play in 1912 for a reason. Arthur Birling is a rich businessman who thinks very highly of himself, even though he is often wrong. Arthur's family respect him and listen intently to his ideas that 'there isn't a chance of war' and the Titanic is 'unsinkable.' As the play was written in 1947 and set in 1912, this is an example of dramatic irony and the audience would know that Arthur was very wrong in his opinions and might even think him to be stupid. When he says 'the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else', he explicitly says that he is a strong Capitalist and is narrow minded. Priestley wanted the audience to have a low opinion of Birling because he was discouraging at Capitalist politics and trying to show people like Mr Birling to be in the wrong. I feel Priestly wanted to teach the audience community and socialism is always a better way of living than being a capitalist.
Sheridan Daley
10yb
