sheila

Question 1

what is the initial portrayal of sheila?

Answer 1

• ‘pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited’.
• she gains maturity and evolves as play
  progresses (jealous instincts replaced
  with maturity), following
  acknowledgement of part she played in
  Eva’s suicide. receptive to inspector’s
  message.
• her personality could be a product of her environment or the society she’s been exposed to. judges others by their beauty, as that’s how she’s been judged her whole life.
• very little in way of rights - women
  forced into marriage, fulfil
  domestic role in household. become
  attached to ‘fairly substantial’ lifestyle and
  ‘heavily comfortable’ house. requires man
  to provide it for her. marriage must have
  financial motivation, not just for love.
• poor standard of education, dependent
  on male counterparts.
• women valued on capacity to attract man.
  through men, sheila increase position
  in hierarchy. when receives the ring,
  sheila ‘really feels engaged’ she’s
  comforted by financial security that
  Gerald provides.
• portrayed as immature and insecure about her beauty. immediate reaction to news of eva’s death was ‘pretty?’ - Sheila’s grief was greater because eva was pretty. warped view of world. someone’s life depends on their outward beauty. audience forms negative perception of sheila, views her as shallow.

Question 2

what is the final portrayal of sheila?

Answer 2

• perfect responder to her wrongdoings, accepts responsibility for actions immediately. ‘it was my own fault’, ‘i was in a furious temper’ - places no blame on eva. accepts her own faults of jealousy caused her to envy eva’s beauty and mistreat her.
• 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 audience that for positive social change, there needs to be critical thought and to move away from inheriting toxic capitalist views.
• mrs birling, in contrast, adopts the view, ‘firstly I blame the girl herself’. priestley conveys that maturity doesn’t necessarily increase with age.

Question 3

describe the hysteria disorder:

Answer 3

• hysteria used as a means to control women.
• unfeminine traits were symptomatic of hysteria, therefore forcing women to adhere to pre-defined gender roles.
• when sheila challenges status quo, is condemned and dismissed as hysterical - ‘sheila gives a short hysterical laugh’ in response to her mother’s use of the ‘silly word’ ‘impertinent’. symbolic of her rejection of mrs birling’s treatment of eva.
• accusation of hysteria is an effective method of attacking sheila personally, rather than the socialist ideas she’s attempting to argue.

Question 4

describe the similarities between eva smith and sheila birling, and why they’re significant:

Answer 4

• created by priestley, demonstrates women’s upbringing has a big impact on their lives. creates parallels between the women to compare the privilege experienced by sheila, and the squalor and struggle experienced by eva.
• sheila = ‘pretty girl in her early twenties’
  eva = ‘twenty four’ and ‘very pretty’
• sheila = ‘very excited’ by her potential
  life of a higher social status through her
  marriage to Gerald.
  eva = suffering so great she committed
  suicide; couldn’t bear to experience the
  future.
• sheila is the most responsive to Priestley’s message as she can empathise the most for eva and the working classes.
• able to see events through desperate
  perspective of eva, due to similar
  experience. ‘these girls aren’t cheap
  labour - they’re people.’
• not exploited to same extent as eva,
  sheila is nonetheless controlled by men
  and surrenders her own autonomy.

Question 5

describe the relationship between sheila and gerald:

Answer 5

• engagement formed on materialism and capitalism. obsessed with materialistic objects - needs the physical token of the ring to ‘really feel engaged’.
• notion of ring validating their relationship is a metaphor of their marriage. founded on strategic upward social mobility and business relations between Crofts and Birlings rather than love. only natural engagement doesn’t feel real until a monetary investment (ring).
• sheila acknowledges she has changed and ‘you and i aren’t the same people’ as not only has sheila changed how she views Gerald, but can no longer ignore the injustices in society.

Question 6

what is the relationship between sheila and her parents?

Answer 6

• values mr and mrs birling impose on sheila are rejected, increasingly, as the play continues.
• both parents directly challenged by
  sheila. she condemns her father ‘these
  girls aren’t cheap labour’. views her
  father’s employees as individuals and
  despises exploitation of their labour.
• refuses to follow commands, such as
  birling’s imperative to go to bed.
• loses respect for her parents. her
  informal, childish tone ‘look mummy isn’t
  it a beauty’ changes to a serious, critical
  tone, ‘mother, i think it was cruel and vile’.
  this change in name is recognised by mrs
  birling, and she realises she can no onger
  infantise sheila, therefore refers to her as
  ‘young woman’.