Shelia Flashcards
Quotes on Sheila
ACT 1: ‘Why – you fool – he knows!’
This exclamation shows that Sheila has quickly realised that Goole is shrewd (has good judgment) and smart.
She knows that they cannot hide anything from him, and that he knows all of the answers and how they are all involved.
She knows he is asking them questions to get them to realise their involvement themselves.
She shows maturity and intelligence here.
ACT 1: ‘So I’m really responsible?’
Sheila’s first reaction to Inspector Goole’s questioning is to accept responsibility for her actions.
Although she is still very worried about how the experience affects her, she acknowledges that she played a key role in Eva Smith’s suicide.
This contrasts to Mr Birling’s complete denial.
ACT 1: ‘Is it the one you wanted me to have… now I really feel engaged’
Sheila doesn’t feel properly engaged until she gets a ring.
Upper-class women got a fancy ring when they got engaged to show that someone new (instead of their father) owned them.
Now that she’s got the ring - the symbol of ownership - she seems to feel the new ownership too.
ACT 2: ‘I’m afraid you’ll say something or do something that you’ll be sorry for afterwards.’
At this point, Sheila understands the Inspector’s role in the story. She attempts to warn her mother about the Inspector knowing more than he seems to.
She knows that Inspector Goole is giving each character the rope to hang themselves with – he is letting them explore their own involvement and work out their own guilt.
ACT 2: ‘We really must stop these silly pretences’
Sheila quickly becomes the mature voice of reason (person who influences others to act sensibly) – she knows that the Inspector already knows how every member of the family was involved with Eva Smith.
She tries to get her family to just play along and tell the truth. This could also link to the idea that these upper-class people cared so much about presenting perfect personas that they never presented their true selves to anyone.
Priestley, through Sheila, tells these upper-class people that they need to care less about social appearances and more about the consequences of their actions.
ACT 2: ‘You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here’
Sheila shows a great deal of emotional maturity.
She breaks her engagement because she realises that she does not really know her fiancé.
Although she had said many sarcastic, harsh comments to Gerald during his interrogation (questioning), she does not hate him. But she feels that she cannot commit to spending her life with a man she does not know – she is not worried about losing a close business connection (unlike her father).
ACT 3: ‘You don’t seem to have learnt anything’
Although she’s heard about the horrible consequences of their actions, Sheila is annoyed that Mr and Mrs Birling do not seem to have learnt anything about themselves and how they should live their lives.
They continue to dodge any responsibility for Eva’s death and push the blame at each other.
ACT 3: ‘Everything we said had happened really happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done’.
Sheila’s emotional maturity and intelligence develops.
Here, Sheila shows how she has learnt a valuable lesson from this whole experience – she accepts blame and responsibility.
She knows that her actions will have consequences for other people – the story of Eva Smith has made this much more realistic for her.
Mr Birling exclaims that young people think they know everything but they’re wrong – ironically, it is the young Birlings who have learnt from their mistakes here.
