Sheila Flashcards
Character in context Sheila is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Birling, and the sister of Eric Birling. Her status is that of firmly middle-class. She’s engaged to Gerald Croft who is of a higher social status to her. Priestley portrays Sheila in the stage directions as “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”. This initial portrayal develops and she gains maturity as the play progresses, following her acknowledgement of the part she played in Eva Smith’s suicide. Sheila is receptive to the Inspector’s message and noticeably evolves as a character. Her jealous instincts are replaced by a sense of maturity by the end of the play. Sheila is a part of the younger generation, alongside Eric. Each child shows resentment towards the lack of social responsibility their parents feel. She takes on board the Inspector’s message and takes on the role of his proxy (represents the Inspector) upon his departure by continuing to reject her parent’s views.
Superficial engagement The engagement between Sheila and Gerald is one formed on materialism and capitalism. Her obsession with material objects is demonstrated when Sheila needs the physical token of a ring to “really feel engaged”. This ring is a visual marker of ownership and commitment from Gerald to their relationship. ● The notion of this ring validating their relationship is a metaphor for the nature of their marriage. It is founded on strategic upward social mobility and business relations between the Crofts and Birlings, rather than love. ○ Therefore, it is only natural that their engagement doesn’t feel real until a monetary investment, the ring, has been made. ● Priestley presents this engagement to Gerald as superficial and business orientated to allow Sheila to develop in maturity and ultimately return the ring to Gerald by the end of the play
Jealous tendencies Priestley portrays Sheila as immature and insecure of her own beauty. It is important to consider why Priestley does this at the start of the play and what affect her behaviour has on the audience’s perception of her as a character. Sheila is presented as having a jealous mindset, initially, to allow Priestley to develop the character later on in the play as she adopts the Inspector’s message of social responsibility. The immediate reaction of Sheila to news of Eva’s death was to question her beauty: “Pretty?”. Here, it can be inferred that Sheila’s grief was greater due to Eva being pretty. This demonstrates Sheila’s warped view of the world, as the value of someone’s life depends on their outward https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-edu beauty. This view of value being linked to beauty extends to social classes, as those who are rich are able to improve their appearance with more beautiful clothes and make-up. Therefore, the logical extension of Sheila’s evaluation of people is that upper classes are of a greater value than the lower classes. Priestley does this to encourage the audience to form a negative perception of Sheila and view her as shallow. However, Sheila’s jealousy is validated by the revelation of Gerald’s affair with Eva Smith. Mrs Birling’s reaction to Gerald’s affair reinforces Sheila’s jealousy and that men having affairs is commonplace: “you’ll have to get used to that, just as I had”. Priestley does this to evidence the sacrifices women are forced to make in order to maintain the stability that marriage offers. The threat of Eva Smith extends beyond Gerald’s loyalty. If Gerald values Eva’s beauty to Sheila’s, this would compromise Sheila’s livelihood as she would lose the provider in her life.
Sheila as a victim Priestley’s presentation of Sheila could, however, be the product of her environment and the society which she has been exposed to. Sheila merely judges others by their beauty as a result of being judged on this sole value herself. Why does Priestley portray Sheila as a victim of her surroundings and are the contextual restrictions placed on women in early 20th century Britain significant to her character? ➔ The women of 1912 had very little in the way of rights and no political means to argue for greater rights (women in Britain only gained the right to vote by 1918). This meant Sheila and other middle-class women of 1912 were expected to marry and fulfil the domestic role in the household. ➔ They were subject to a poor standard of education and were dependent on their male counterparts financially and for stability in their lives. This was due to women’s jobs only paying a small fraction of men’s jobs, while many employers refused to hire women. ➔ Sheila has become attached to her “fairly substantial” lifestyle and “heavily comfortable” house. However, Sheila cannot maintain this by herself; she requires a man to provide it for her. Therefore, middle-class and upper-class women are forced into marriage as the only means of sustaining the lives that they have become accustomed to. Marriage’s purpose, therefore, must always have an element of financial motivation and not be solely for love. ➔ Priestley presents a true reflection of women in 1912, as women are valued on their capacity to attract a man. It is through men (in this case Gerald) that women (Sheila) can increase her position in the social hierarchy. This victimhood of women is demonstrated through Sheila’s joy at receiving the ring and asking whether it was “the one you (Gerald) wanted me to have?”. It is at this point that Sheila “really feels engaged” as she is comforted by the financial security that Gerald provides, which is symbolised by the ring
Parental manipulation Priestley portrays Sheila as the result of Mr and Mrs Birling’s manipulation. Priestley allows the audience to feel sympathy towards Sheila and her dislikeable behaviour as Priestley makes it clear that her immaturity and materialism is a product of her parent’s influence. https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-edu ➔ Sheila’s materialistic reaction to the ring is reflected by Mr Birling’s capitalist and business focused speech to “lower costs and higher prices”. ➔ Priestley intends for his play to be educational in its message and target the younger generation. Therefore, it is crucial that Sheila rejects the traditional and outdated mindset of the older generation, allowing a more socialist and reformed society to be created.
Similarities between Sheila and Eva Smith The similarities between Sheila and Eva are created by Priestley to demonstrate the impact women’s upbringing have upon their lives. He creates these parallels between the women to compare the privilege experienced by Sheila within her higher-class lifestyle, with the squalor and struggle experienced by Eva. The similarities between the characters is made explicit by Priestley as Sheila is described by the stage directions as a “pretty girl in her early twenties”, while Eva is described by the Inspector as “twenty-four” and “very pretty”. However, their perceptions of the future are presented as a stark contrast by Priestley and as a direct result of the divisions in social class. Sheila is “very excited” by her potential life of higher social status through marriage to Gerald whereas Eva’s suffering was so great that she committed suicide; she couldn’t bear to experience the future. ➔ The audience realises the differing factor between the characters is class and therefore it is this distinction that enables Sheila to live carefree. ➔ It is also class which sentences Eva to a life of constant suffering. Priestley is able to convey his promotion of socialism through this juxtaposition of characters, within this didactic play (moral teaching). Alternatively, it could be argued that Priestley creates these similar characteristics between Sheila and Eva as it enables the audience to feel more empathy with Sheila. Moreover, it makes it more believable that Sheila would change in her beliefs once she is made aware of how similar she is to Eva. Both these factors help to further Priestley’s own agenda of promoting socialism. ➔ As Sheila is so similar to Eva she becomes the most responsive to Priestley’s message as she can empathise the most (out of the Birlings) for Eva and the working classes. ➔ Sheila is also able to see the events through the desperate perspective of Eva, due to their similar experience. This is demonstrated through Sheila’s disgust at her father’s attitude: “these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people”. ➔ Sheila is not exploited to the same extent as Eva is, yet, Sheila is nonetheless controlled by men and surrenders her own autonomy.
Inexcusable Priestley portrays Sheila as accepting of her role in Eva’s death, she refuses to make excuses for behaviour (as Mr and Mrs Birling did). The personal reflection that Sheila sees in Eva causes her to become unable to dismiss her role in the chain of events, which led to Eva’s suicide. Her open stance to her own responsibility is a distinct contrast to the other characters in the play, who attempted to avoid responsibility or had to be forced by the Inspector to talk: ➔ Eric couldn’t face the truth and impact of his actions and therefore left the house. ➔ Mrs Birling refused to accept responsibility as she deemed her case unworthy of aid and therefore used her “influence to have it refused”. ➔ Mr Birling initially pretends to not know who the Inspector is referring to and then maintains a stance of not accepting responsibility. ➔ Gerald’s tone towards the inspector is misleading and reluctant “All right, I know her. Let’s leave it at that”. Through Sheila, Priestley is able to convey the message towards the audience to better society and reduce suffering. And, for this to be achieved, it is necessary to start seeing the world from the perspective of the disadvantaged and persecuted lower-classes, rather than distancing themselves from them. This genuine care is demonstrated by Sheila’s feminine compassion, notably in response to Eva’s death; “how horrible!”.
Final Impressions Permanent change? The question as to whether Sheila has completely changed for the better by the end of the play is left in an ambiguous fashion by Priestley. This uncertainty is revealed by the use of reverse syntax in the phrase “it frightens me, the way you talk”. Priestley inverts this sentence to create uncertainty about what is scaring Sheila. This causes her fear to become central to the sentence and prompts the question whether Sheila’s fear is in fact more complex; does Sheila merely fear the way that Mr and Mrs Birling talk? or does she share her parent’s fear of how their lifestyle would be impacted by an increased sense of social responsibility? Likewise, Sheila’s uncertainty is reflected in her half-rejection of Gerald and his ring: “we’d have to start all over again”. Priestley uses cyclical structure in the presentation of Sheila at the beginning and end of the play; she must decide on her engagement to Gerald. Despite Gerald’s affair, Sheila does not completely reject him. Perhaps this implies that Sheila returns to the ideological position she held at the start of the play. Also, Sheila’s failure to reject Gerald’s ring is symbolic of her acceptance of nepotism (those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends), classism and patriarchy that Gerald represents.
Symbolism of Sheila The ideal recipient of the Inspector’s message Sheila’s convictions (personal, strongly held beliefs) become more open to the Inspector’s own views as the play progresses. Priestley demonstrates Sheila’s instantaneous recognition of the Inspector’s message, as she responds to her father’s dehumanising and capitalist approach to business with “these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people”. However, Sheila is also presented as ignorant of the suffering occurring outside of her privileged bubble; the Inspector enlightens Sheila. Sheila’s empathy is evident through the use of the plural noun “girls”, as she can relate to the patriarchal oppression they face. ➔ The impact of the Inspector’s message is visually demonstrated by Priestley through the stage directions as “she goes closer to him wonderingly”. This physical movement towards the Inspector is a reflection of Sheila’s mindset moving towards that of the Inspector’s socialist ideology. ➔ Priestley suggests, through the Inspector, that Sheila’s youthfulness is responsible for her assimilation (understanding) of the Inspector’s message as “we often do on the young ones. They’re more impressionable.” ➔ Sheila’s change in mindset to become more receptive to the Inspector’s message allows her to continue his message and act as his proxy, when the Inspector departs. She understands the greater significance of the Inspector as a moral teaching, rather than just the threat of prosecution as she realises his omniscience: “(laughs rather hysterically) Why - you fool - he knows. Of course he knows.” Sheila is portrayed as the ideal exemplar to the audience, showing them how they should react to the Inspector’s message. In this manner, Priestley encourages the audience to take on the role of the Inspector and propagate (spread) the need for greater social responsibility.
Ideal representation of repenting and responding to vices (sins) Priestley portrays Sheila as the perfect responder to her own wrongdoings as she accepts responsibility for her actions immediately, without deflecting blame onto others. The openness Sheila shows in accepting responsibility is evident as “it was my own fault” and that she “was in a furious temper”. Sheila, in contrast to the majority of other characters (save Eric), places no blame on Eva. She accepts that her own faults of jealousy caused her to envy Eva’s beauty and mistreat her. This reaction directly contrasts Mrs Birling, who adopts the view that “firstly I blame the girl herself”. Here, Priestley conveys that maturity doesn’t necessarily increase with age - in fact the younger generation in Priestley’s play are the most mature. Here, Sheila has clearly developed from the character she was at the start of the play, who echoed her mother’s use of “impertinent” to describe Eva. Priestley, reminds the audience that for positive socialist change to https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-edu occur there needs to be critical thought and a move away from inheriting toxic capitalist views. ❖ Priestley was determined for 1945 to be a time of change and to not fall back into the Victorian style divide in classes. The implementation of the Beveridge Report ensured this and formed the foundation of the Welfare State.
Alone in her responsibility Priestley’s combination of Sheila’s characteristics as young, receptive, feminine and similar to Eva, causes her to realise the immorality of her actions (more than the other characters). Why does Priestley present Sheila as the most socially responsible? ➔ The rest of the Birlings and Gerald are more or less content in their own immorality and are indifferent to their impact on Eva Smith. Priestley does this to: ◆ Encourage the audience to oppose societal values that are accepted, yet objectively immoral (such as profiteering and labour exploitation) ◆ Promote the need for a shift from outright capitalism to a more socialist society, thus embracing new and modern views. ➔ Sheila contrasts the other characters in the play with her determination to accept responsibility: ◆ Eric’s inability to accept the impact of his own actions is reflected through the stage directions as “the front door slams” and he flees the Inspector’s inquiry. ◆ Eric’s vagueness in his description of his relationship with Eva suggests the extent of his involvement in Eva’s suicide is greater than he lets on. Priestley achieves this through euphemistic language as Eric describes trying to force entry into Eva’s lodgings as “a row”. ◆ Gerald’s initial denial of knowing Eva demonstrates his valuing of his own social status over the life of Eva Smith (he would rather preserve his status than aid a legal inquiry). ◆ Mr Birling suggests his firing of Eva was righteous to “keep labour prices down”, despite paying his employees a sustenance wage. Blame is further deflected onto Eva, as Mr Birling describes her as a typical “trouble maker”. ◆ Mrs Birling is the most zealous to avoid responsibility. She blames Eva as she implies that “girls of that class” are inherently dishonest. Her deflections of blame extend to Eric (inadvertently) as she believes that father is to blame and “If the girl’s death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him”. After accepting responsibility, Sheila shows permanent change as she promises “I’ll never, never do it to anyone again”. This change in behaviour is, arguably, more important than accepting responsibility.
Sheila’s receptiveness to the Inspector is dismissed The social responsibility and remorse felt by Sheila is objected to by the other characters in the play. Gerald exercises his social authority over Sheila as he requests to the Inspector that she should be “excused” for becoming “hysterical”. The use of this adjective is inherently sexist and bears connotations of the mental disorder ‘hysteria’. This disorder can only be diagnosed to women (as it was caused by a ‘wandering womb’, which the prefix of “hys” meaning womb) and is characterised by emotional excess. This emotional excess Sheila exhibits is due to her passion https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-cc https://bit.ly/pmt-edu for the Inspector’s message of the need to accept responsibility, change and the immoral treatment of Eva Smith. Sheila’s overwhelming emotional response is necessary for change and socialist reform; it is this passion, which will prevent her from regressing back into her former mindset
Hysteria Historically, hysteria has been utilised as a means to control women. ● Unfeminine traits were symptomatic of hysteria, therefore, serving as a method to force women to adhere to predefined gender roles (e.g. staying at home and doing household chores, rather than becoming a strong political leader). This prevented women from attaining positions of power due to their tendency to exhibit excessive emotion. ● Priestley ensures that when Sheila challenges the status quo she is condemned and dismissed as hysterical: ○ The stage directions dictate that “Sheila gives a short hysterical laugh” in response to her mother’s use of the “silly word” “impertinent”. Sheila’s laugh is symbolic of her rejection of Mrs Birling’s treatment of Eva. ○ Mrs Birling objects to Sheila condemning Eric and “severely” informs her that she’s “behaving like a hysterical child”. ● The accusation of hysteria is used as an effective method to attack Sheila personally, rather than the socialist ideas that she attempts to argue. This form of ad hominem allows the Birlings and Gerald to continue their lives of privilege, without worrying about social responsibility.
Reaction of the audience The audience is encouraged by Priestley to relate to Sheila and therefore identify with her view of increased social responsibility. It is crucial to understand why Priestley attempts to align the audience’s empathy with Sheila and her views. ● Priestley infuses Sheila’s language with rhetorical devices, which resonate with the audience: “You knew it then. You began to learn something. And now you’ve stopped.” This group of three is memorable of the Inspector’s direct and terse (short) accusations against the Birlings. ● Sheila must be the focus of the audience and who they find the most likeable. Priestley does this as Sheila takes on the role of the Inspector (once he leaves). Therefore, it is Priestley’s intention that the audience emulate Sheila and take on extra social responsibility. Without Priestley portraying Sheila as likeable, his message of socialism would be less effective as the audience would not take on board the Inspector’s thrust to the same extent and reform themselves.
Relations with other characters Rejection of parents The values that Mr and Mrs Birling imposed on Sheila are rejected, increasingly, as the play continues. The rebellion of Sheila against her parents’ established views is critical to the didactic (moral teaching) nature of the play. ➔ Both parents are directly challenged by Sheila, as she condemns her father “these girls aren’t cheap labour”. Sheila views Mr Birling’s employees as individuals and despises the exploitation of their labour, by her father. She also rejects her mother’s use of “impertinent” as “such a silly word”. ➔ This rejection of her parents is further demonstrated by her refusal to commands, such as refusing Mr Birling’s imperative to go to bed. ➔ She loses respect for her parents, as her informal and childish tone: “look mummy isn’t it a beauty” changes to a serious and critical one: “Mother, I think it was cruel and vile”. This change from “mummy” to “mother” is acknowledged by Mrs Birling, who realises she can no longer infantise Sheila and therefore refers to her a “young woman”.
