(Character) Sheila Birling Flashcards
Role in the play
Priestley uses Sheila to show how attitudes of the wealthy, higher-classes could be changed through educating them.
Connection to Eva
When she was in a bad mood, Sheila went shopping at Milward’s (where Eva worked).
She got Eva fired because she felt that Eva was laughing at her – she threatened to stop her family shopping there unless the manager fired Eva.
Role in the family
Sheila is Mr and Mrs Birling’s daughter.
She is engaged to be married to Gerald Croft – this match takes place partly so her father can become a closer business associate of Lord and Lady Croft.
Sheila is treated like a child throughout the play – a characteristic of pre-war society, where young women were still considered to be children until they got married.
Character Development of Sheila
Beginning-
Sheila starts the play feeling very happy with her privileged life.
Changing relationship with her family-
The story of Eva Smith, and how all of the Birlings and Gerald played a role in her death, soon causes Sheila to lose respect for, and faith in, her family.
Sheila is disgusted that they will not accept any blame. This cracks the family image and shatters her relationship with her parents. She no longer admires or looks up to her parents.
Accepts responsibility and learns from actions-
When she hears about the role she played in destroying Eva’s life, she is genuinely upset about it.
She accepts responsibility and agrees that her actions were unacceptable – she is the only character to do this completely.
Sheila learns from her actions. She vows to never repeat them.
She also matures once she hears about the effects of her actions.
The audience can be confident that she will use the experience to live a better, more caring life.
Encourages others to change
Although Sheila figures out that Inspector Goole was probably not a real police inspector, she does not dismiss the outcome of his questioning.
Even if Eva Smith herself wasn’t real, Sheila encourages her family to realise that they still did these bad things to someone.
She encourages them to think that they could have done it even if they didn’t actually cause a death.
Hope for future generations
Priestley uses Sheila to represent the future generations who needed to learn and grow in order to create a better, fairer society.
She willingly alienates herself from her family so she can fight for what she thinks is right – this shows the audience that there is hope that the future generations will work towards a better society.
Growing socialism in a capitalist society
As a character who not only learns about her mistakes, but also accepts them, Sheila gains some respect from the audience – especially as a young woman who begins to develop more socialist views in a highly-capitalist upper-middle-class family.
Rising importance of women
Sheila also represents the rising importance of women in society.
She begins to involve herself in political ideas and shows that she wants to work for a fairer society.
She also refuses to do the easy thing (which is expected of her) and marry Gerald because she learns that he does not share her ideals – she breaks out of the norm instead of remaining as a stereotypical pre-war silent daughter.
‘Mummy – isn’t it a beauty?’ (Act 1)
Stereotypical higher-class woman-
As the play opens, Sheila plays the stereotypical young, pre-war, higher-class woman whose role is to marry well and produce children.
She is excited to be marrying a good-looking, wealthy man and shows off her expensive engagement ring.
Child-like-
She uses the noun ‘Mummy’ when talking to her mother – this language suggests that she is quite child-like at the start of the play.
That she feels like she needs to show off her ring also suggests she is childish.
Priestley uses this to highlight how much she changes later on.
‘Mother, I think that was cruel and vile.’ (Act 2)
Breaking social rules and maturing-
By Act 2, ‘mummy’ has become ‘mother’ in Sheila’s eyes.
She has shifted from her initial child-like behaviour to telling off her mother and openly disagreeing with her.
This was completely unacceptable in pre-war etiquette. This suggests that she is so upset and angry that she is happy to break social rules at this point.
Changing relationship with parents-
Her using the more formal word ‘mother’ suggests that she is annoyed with Mrs Birling, and that she refuses to be viewed as a child at this point.
She may no longer feel a sense of closeness with her mother.
Her illusions (false images) of her parents have been shattered by the Inspector’s interrogation; her parents are not who she thought they were.
‘It frightens me the way you talk.’ (Act 3)
More socially aware-
Sheila becomes more socially aware and more upset by the family’s actions as the play goes on.
By the end of Act 3, she openly admits to Mr Birling that his and Mrs Birling’s attitudes are scaring her because they refuse to admit that they have done anything wrong.
Worries about parents’ attitudes-
She worries that her parents have not learnt anything, and so could do the same thing again and cause the death of another person.
Helpless-
She feels helpless because she cannot convince her parents to reconsider their attitudes.
