sheila Flashcards
stage directions
‘a pretty girl…pleased with life and rather excited’
‘pretty’
↳ shows that she puts all her value into her looks
↳ antithesis of eva smith, no worries, little to no responsibility, socially prosperous as she is young and pretty
↳ seen as an accessory, collateral for mr birling (she can be married off to a rich family to help strengthen his business)
↳ infantile capitalist as her world is closeted
‘girl’
↳ although she is into her early twenties, she is still referred to as a girl to emphasises that she is childish and naive
↳ foreshadows the immaturity we will see further on in the play
‘pleased with life’
↳ shows that ignorance both sheila and women in this patriarchal society were forced to have as surely sheila wouldn’t be pleased with life if she knew about the unfairness in life
↳ blissfully ignorant of society’s injustices
‘half serious, half playful’ [ACT 1]
(sheila uses this tone while asking gerald why he was distant with her last summer)
‘half serious, half playful’
↳ while shes being playful, there’s a degree of uncertainty
↳ she’s quite emotionally intelligent & knows that gerald is lying
↳ because of women’s place in society, it wouldn’t be her place to actively call him out
↳ even though shelia is shown to be sheltered & spoilt, not knowing about social issues, she has an element of perceptiveness, which could foreshadow her ability to adapt and change her views and discover the truth of the world, she is stuck in a bubble
‘I don’t believe I will’ (half serious, half playful) [ACT 1]
(sheila is referring to sybil’s reinforcement of the patriarchy)
↳ priestley seeks to break through the reinforced patriarchy throughout the play
↳ sheila may only be half serious now, but by the end of the play she will be entirely serious
↳ conflict between mother and daughter relates to the conflict between older and younger generations
‘these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people’ [ACT 1]
hyphenated clause: ‘they’re people’
↳ draws attention to the humanity of the workers & connects sheila to socialism
‘miserable plain little creature’…’but she was very pretty…I couldn’t be sorry for her’ [ACT1]
‘creature’
↳ dehumanises eva, shows sheila’s capitalist views
↳ she has no empathy for those below her
↳ deadly sun of eva
‘if I could help her now, I would’
[ACT 1]
modal verbs: ‘could’, ‘would’
↳ indicates that she wants to make amends & if she could turn back time she’d never make that mistake again
‘no that’s no use’ [ACT 1]
-sheila contradicts gerald, who is not only a man but her social superior, for the first time
-turning point in her character
-mirrors the assertive behaviour of the inspector for example when he interrupted gerald (‘cutting in, massively’)
‘she looks at him almost in triumph. he looks crushed’ [ACT 1]
symbolism:
↳ symbolic of how socialism will ‘crush’ capitalism by the end of the play
↳ priestley seems to be developing sheila into a second mouthpiece of socialism, this not only shows how the younger generation have potential to change (which is what priestley wishes for) perhaps priestley is pushing for women to be more assertive and important in society, as they had a limited role
‘you mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl…the inspector will just break it down’
[ACT 2]
imperative: ‘mustn’t’
↳ shows how sheila has evolved from an infantile capitalist to an assertive socialist
metaphor: ‘break it down’
↳ sheila is aware of the social barrier imposed by the upper class
↳ implies that the inspector ‘breaks down’ social barriers, as he isn’t explicitly part of any himself, he is transcendent
↳ sheila has adopted socialist views like the inspector
↳ has connotations of demise and downfall, which could foreshadow the downfall of the family towards the end of the play
↳ opportunity to present the younger generation as much more progressive and socialist - later on, the inspector says that ‘she’s right’, implying to the audience that socialism is the way to go as the inspector, the omniscient being, is a socialist
metaphor: ‘wall’
↳ represents the difference in class and social status
↳ the birling’s think of themselves as different to eva & superior, they refuse to be linked to her in any way
‘yes, go on mummy’-> ‘mother, stop it’ [ACT 1 -> ACT 2]
mummy = colloquial:
↳ shows closeness to sybil as she is willing to listen to her at this moment
↳ sheila lives in a bubble away from hardships, contrast to eva (orphan)
↳ contrasts to independent mindset later in the play
mother = formal
↳ shows new distance from mother
↳ sheila has been exposed to the harshness of life
↳ stop = assertive, imperative
what does sheila understand about the inspector?
his omnipotence
sheila’s key character traits:
-sheila is a part of the vounger generation
-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 view’s
-product of her environment
-sheila merely judges others by their beauty as a result of being judged on this value herself
-priestley portrays sheila as the result of mr and mrs birling’s manipulation
-priestley allows the audience to feel sympathy towards sheila and her behaviour as priestley makes it clear that her immaturity and materialism is a product of her parent’s influence
-historically, hysteria has been utilised as a means to control women
-unfeminine traits were symptomatic of hysteria, serving as a method to force women to adhere to predefined gender roles
-priestley ensures that when sheila challenges the status quo she is condemned as hysterical
sheila & eva
-the similarities between sheila & eva are created by priestley to demonstrate the impact women’s upbringing have upon their lives
-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’
-priestley is able to convey his promotion of socialism through this juxtaposition of characters
-priestley creates these similar characteristics between sheila and eva as it enables the audience to feel more empathy with sheila
-as sheila is so similar to eva she becomes the most responsive to priestley’s message as she can empathise the most
-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
words to describe sheila:
infantile capitalist, assertive socialist, idyllic, insightful, blissfully ignorant
