Sheila

Question 1

Act 1
“Pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”

Answer 1

•Priestley draws parallels between Sheila and Eva
- They’re both “pretty” and in their twenties
- Shows that women, regardless of class, are confined to the same oppressing expectation
•Blissfully ignorant of life’s cruelties and inequalities

Question 2

Act 1
“Mummy” “Daddy”

Answer 2

•Language is very regressive and simplistic for a woman in her “early twenties”
- Language remains infantile and childlike
- Reinforces that she has been sheltered from the real hardships of life, resulting in her being preserved in this state and being prohibited from seeing the belligerent world

Question 3

Act 1
“Pretty?”

Answer 3

•Immediate reaction was to question her beauty
- Demonstrates her warped perception of the world as the value of someone’s life depends on their outward beauty
- Links to social classes, as those who are rich can improve their appearance with more beautiful clothes and makeup
- Encourages the audience to form a negative perception of Sheila and view her as shallow

Question 4

Act 1
“I felt rotten about it at the time”

Answer 4

•Informal adjective “rotten” shows her lack of maturity in her vocabulary
- She does show remorse for her actions, which she instantly knew were wrong
- Priestley conveys the maturity is proportional to the level of social responsibility you feel, rather than using formal vocabulary

Question 5

Act 1
“If she’d been some miserable plain little creature, I don’t suppose I’d have done it”

Answer 5

•Displays her shallow, superficial nature and her focus in appearance
- Highlights the societal pressures and class divisions of the time; her statement reveals the pressures to conform to standards of beauty and appearance for women
- Suggests that she views the working class as inferior and undeserving of respect
- She initially has these shallow tendencies, but undergoes a transformation

Question 6

Act 2
(Rather wildly) “He’s giving us the rope- so we’ll hang ourselves”

Answer 6

•Has become empowered through her development of empathy and responsibility
- “Wildly” shows how she has become disillusioned with the ideas of capitalism; she is now unapologetically freed from these constraints

Question 7

Act 2
“You were a wonderful fairy prince”

Answer 7

•Exposes the superficiality of Gerald’s actions and the class-based privilege that allowed him to play the ‘rescuer’ role
- Suggests the upper-class sees charitable acts of kindness to feel good about themselves without addressing the systematic issues that cause suffering
- Metaphor highlights the disparity between the privileged world that Sheila and Gerald inhabit, and the harsh realities faced by those like Eva, who are marginalised and vulnerable

Question 8

Act 2
“You’d better take this with you” (She hands him the ring)

Answer 8

•Symbolises her distancing herself from Gerald and his Capitalist views
- Transforms from her previously naive, materialistic self
- Shows the Inspector’s profound impact on her, leading her to question her family’s values and roles in society

Question 9

Act 3
(Bitterly) “I suppose we’re all nice people now”

Answer 9

•Use of rhetoric device, couples with a sarcastic tone, conveys her disapproval to her parents and their lack of remorse
- The lack of a potential criminal conviction doesn’t alleviate their immoral actions

Question 10

Act 3
“We all helped to kill her”

Answer 10

•Recognises shared guily and responsibility
- Tension between Sheila and the others’ denial to accept responsibility develops a sense of dramatic irony as it underscores the moral blindness that persists