Sheila Birling Flashcards
5 words to describe her
Childish, Materialistic, Perceptive, Spoilt, Ignorant
What are her major points in the play?
1) Her engagement which she had cancelled
2) Her jealousy which led to firing Eva Smith from Millwards
3) Her change in heart when she decided that it was the Birling families fault.
What is her significance?
Her significance is to show that women can be independent and that change can happen even in the 1900’s, where women were the weaker gender and were treated as property to men.
What does she represent?
Change and breaking out of classes. We see this through how she calls of her engagement to Gerald Croft and also decides that her family was the reason for the Eva Smith’s unfortune.
What are her beliefs?
1) Empathy towards working class
2) Women should not be treated as inferior
3) The upper classes are responsible for the suffering of lower classes
How do the stage directions describe her?
As an energetic and ecstatic younger generation girl who has a care free spirit due to her father’s successes.
3 significant quotes
Sheila: [Taking out the ring]: ‘Oh - it’s wonderful! Look - Mummy - isn’t it a beauty? Oh - darling - [She kisses Gerald hastily]’ - symbolises her materialistic side
Sheila: ‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.’ - starts to understand what working class women would face, sympathetic.
Sheila: ‘I’ve told my father - he didn’t seem to think it amounted to much - but I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse. Did it make much difference to her?’ - Questions her choices made, starts to reflect the change in heart
