Sheila Flashcards
Who is Sheila?
What happens to her in the play
Daughter of Mr and Mrs Birling.
Engaged to Gerald Croft and had suspicions over his absence last summer.
Gets Eva Smith Fired from her job at Milward Clothing store.
Learns Gerald had an affair with Eva last summer and calls of the engagement.
Feels deep remorse for the part she played in leading Eva Snith to her suicide and is terrified by her parents unapologetic attitude.”1
What was Sheila like at the start of the play vs the end?
Thought provoking character for the audience and herself.
At the beginning of the play she is firmly set with her strong capitalist upper class ideals.
At the end she had a huge change in character as a direct result of the introduction of the inspector and with him a judgement that sheds light on flaws of an exploitative system.
How does her name Sheila, reflect her needing protection?
Homophone for ‘Shield her’
Birling family view that she needs to be protected from the inequalities and mistreatment of society
Women were seen as weaker than men and it was believed they were unable to look after themselves so needed to be shielded.
Or Birling family want to protect her by preventing her from discovering the bourgeois consumerism which takes over society, and she needs to conform to their way of life and not see any other ideologies.
What does the description of Sheila being ‘very ______ and rather excited’ infer?
‘Very pleased and rather excited’
Could suggest her as being quite unimportant due to her gender
She is content with suffering in society around her because she is kept oblivious as she holds the same myopiic and self centered view she had been taught by her parents who don’t value ‘community and all that nonsense’
At the start she agrees to the stereotype, but isn’t as immature as she seems.
Gerald’s quote ‘I think miss birling..
ought to be excused’
Sheila isn’t treated as an equal, even though she is an adult.
Inferior in a male dominated edwardian society. - One of the reasons for eva’s death.
What does eva’s return of the ring symbolize?
She’s no longer governed by emotion.
The change in women and the increase of younger societies challenging the norms of society, Mrs Birling would never do this, however eva has started to realise she doesn’t want to continue this cycle of stereotypes - paves way for suffrage movement:
Symbolic of her handing back her control in society.
Criticizing older generations.
In act two, why does Sheila now address me and mrs birling as father and mother instead of mummy and daddy?
Dramatic change
She begins to recognise she doesn’t want to accept her shielding from society like a child, instead she wants to be mature and confront the real world.
She wants to escape the guilded cage middle class / higher class women are in. (golden cage)
How does sheila take on the role of an inspector ?
She begins questioning her family , e.g ‘but that won’t bring eva smith back to life, will it?’, ‘and no suicide?’ ‘was he really a police inspector?’
Shows how she questions the societal norms of w/c mistreatment and the expectation of women not to make decisions and removes her being shielded from society.
She also repeats ‘fire and blood and anguish’
