Shelia Flashcards
“Yes, go on, mummy” and “You’re squiffy”
-her silencing is prevalent in act 1 as her speech is short and simplistic such as “Yes, go on, mummy” and “You’re squiffy”. This is indictive of how she is silenced due to her being seen as an inferior young woman but also representing how she is a disenfranchised woman- her lack of a voice could be utilsed by Priestley to critique the lack of a political voice women had in the Edwardian Era.
-presents her infantile treatment
“look-mummy-isn’t it a beauty?”
-abundance of hyphens make her speech fragmented- emulates her lack of voice and assertiveness in speech.
-question mark: seeking validation and reassurance on the worth of something based on its exterior
-infantile language “mummy”
“Croft’s and Birlings” “the happiest night of my life”
-Sheila’s oppression serves to be emblematic of the typical oppression of women within the earth 20th century
-her entire being is centred around the patriarchal expectations of her: marriage to advance her family politically and socially
-her engagement to Gerald is a by product of patriarchy as the uniting of “crofts and birlings” is the real reason her family, most significantly Mr Birling, is overjoyed and elated with the marriage with it being “the happiest night of my life”
-we clearly see that Shelia is equally equally ecstatic about the marriage as she is mesmerised by the ‘beauty’ of the ring, but her later disillusionment to the idea of marriage proves that this marriage was not a union for her but for her father
-shelia and Mr Birling’s relationship is a microcosm for the oppression inflicted by the patriarchy; women were utilised as a transaction to further advance the political and social status of their fathers
-a women’s naivety and oppression allowed this transaction to be more seamless, hence shelia’s naivety is jsed by Priestley to indict how the patriarchal society objectified women, seeing them for their transactional value opposed to their value as humans.
Shelia as [pretty girls] whereas Eva Smith as “very pretty”
-she is instantly introduced as a [pretty girl], reinforcing how Sheila’s purpose and value at the beginning did not surpass her physical value- a representation of the societal view of women.
-interestingly, Priestley draws parallels between Eva and Shelia as both are oppressed by the patriarchy and used for their external appearance. Both are described by the flattering adjective of ‘pretty’ with Shelia being a [pretty girl] and Eva being described by the inspector as “very pretty” and by Gerald as “young and pretty”- both females regardless of class are confined to the same oppressing expectations
-Priestley uses the similarity of oppression, yet the contrasting treatment in how Eva was exploited, and Shelia remained privileged;perhaps highlighting to the audience how individuals regardless of class are united in alternative ways- ones they may not be aware of. This Priestley although optimistic in the complete unity of classes, may be providing a realistic alternative for classes to see their similarities beyond the clear distinctions in their social class.
[early twenties] and “mummy”
-Sheila’s language is very regressive and simplistic for a woman of the middle class who is in her [early twenties]. Her language remains infantile and childlike as she refers to her mother as “mummy”. This reinforces that she has been sheltered from the real hardships of life, resulting in her to be preserved in this infantile manner and being prohibited from seeing the belligerent world.
-Sheila’s dismissal of her role as a silenced woman is broken subtly through her development in language. She goes from the infantile reference of her “mummy” to calling her “mother”. This subtle progression is indicative that Shelia has deviated from being oppressed and has been empowered because of her introduction to socialism.
“But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people”
-She directly indicts her fathers exploitive capitalist ways through opposing that “But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people”. As girls connotes innocence and vulnerability, Shelia has recognised that upper class members of society, typically possessing capitalist views, exploit the innocence and vulnerability of the lower classes- one realisation the previous sheltered Shelia would have never come too.
-This is the beginning of her disgust and rejection of capitalists dehumanising, deplorable and unscrupulous behaviour.
-the inspector the embodiment of socialism liberates Shelia through introducing her to socialist ideologies- one that juxtaposes the views she had been exposed to her entire life. The liberation is clear through her confrontational and assertive tone she develops, contrasting her previous feeble presentation.
“Your mustn’t try to build a kind of wall between us and that girl. If you do, the inspector will just break it down”
-Shelia goes from being ridiculed in act1, to mocking and ridiculing her ignorant families oblivion to the Inspector’s omniscience and moral power. She tries to educate her family on their obliviousness.
-Surprisingly, Shelia becomes one of the shrewdest characters, despite her earlier naive presentation, as she is the first to recognise both the intent and moral message the inspector was trying to propagate.
-the metaphorical phrase of a wall serves as a symbol for the wall and barrier the Birling’s have created from the real world- they live in their [pink and intimate] lives filled with oblivion:avoiding become morally righteous and permitting this through their constant stage of ignorance.
-Shelia is no longer sheltered by her ignorant parents but becomes the antithesis of their outlooks on life and responsibility.As her parents are capitalism personified, by her criticising and educating her parents,this is symbolic of her defiance of capitalism and patriarchy 2 societal construct that constrains her
-girl’ connotes vulnerability-making them recognise they are being oblivious to Evas vulnerability that they created.
-brutal verb ‘break’ replicates the brutal and stark awakening they will continue to face if they endlessly neglect their responsibility.
“[rather wildly, with laugh] No, he’s giving us the rope- so that we’ll hang ourselves”
-She becomes empowered through her development of empathy and responsibility, causing her to be a foil to her remorseless and irresponsible parents recognising..
-the stage direction wildly demonstrates how Shelia has become disillusioned with the ideas of capitalism: and the proper etiquette of middle class. She is now unapologetically freed from these constraints and appears to not hold back this ‘wild’ side.
-“rope” has fibres that are all intertwined, thus mimicking how Shelia has recognised that everybody in society is intertwined with their responsibilities, capitalist or not, they have a moral obligation to protect the “millions and millions” that suffered.
-the motif of death permeated the play, Shelia reinforcing this through the vivid diction ‘hang’ and reminding her mother that Eva ‘sided a horrible death’. Shelia is used by Priestley to transport this motif to the audience as it resonated depend that although the middle class may carelessly neglect their responsibility, on an extreme case leading to death, they can still embark on a pathway to redemption when introduced to a moral way of living socialism.
-coupled with her [laugh], this suggests she finds capitalism absurd, laughing at its societal significance whilst laughing at how persistently delusional her parents are- they want shirk their responsibilities and moral wrongdoings
-collective pronoun us shows they collectively have to share this guilt and the rope of consequences.
“But you’re forgetting. I’m supposed to be engaged to the hero of it”
-Short sentence ‘but you’re forgetting’ sarcastically mocking the meaning of their marriage.
-‘engaged’ created an image of an eternal marriage, yet Shelia uses this word to highlight the mockery of eternal love and the idea of marriage.
-‘hero’ is typically a fictional character- Shelia has realised that not only was his engagement and love false and fictional, so was the rest of her reality.
“Mother, she died a horrible death- don’t forget.”
-plosives litter her speech: “died”, “death” and “don’t”. These harsh sounds emulate the harsh reality that she is trying to make her irresponsible family face.
-fragmented speech, resembles she is placing emphasises on directly addressing her mother’s irresponsibility,
-short sentence on “don’t forget”
act 1: “really engaged”
act 3: [holds up the ring] “No, not yet. It’s too soon, I must think”
-An integral part of how Shelia was defined in Act 1, was through her engagement to Gerald- symbolising a typical relationship within a patriarchal society. Priestley utilises a cyclical structure throughout his play, most visibly through an inspector arriving at rue begging and at the end. However he also uses this through the cyclical presentation of Gerald and Shelia’s engagement
-Beginning of act 1: Shelia is overjoyed about her engagement calling her ring ‘perfect’ which consequently makes her feel ‘really engaged’
-end of act 3: Gerald [holds up the ring] to which Shelia replies “No, not yet. It’s too soon, I must think”
-although Shelia doesn’t completely reject the idea of marriage, it would have been atypical at the time for a woman to be doubtful about marriage:even in the case of infidelity and especially when their spouse belonged to a higher class as Gerald did. Shelia’s hesitation shows her freeing herself from the societal concepts that constrained her.
“No, not yet. It’s too soon, I must think”
-short fragmented speech mimics her hesitations about the engagement
-comma after the ‘no’ shows she is asserting her reluctancy to the marriage that Gerald thinks has not been impacted
“What he made me feel. Fire and blood and anguish”
-Shelia acts as the inspector’s proxy after his final speech, relaying his message word from word
-her emulation and precise repetition even of the polysyndeton on ‘and’, illuminates Sheila is desperately trying to reinforce the belligerent and relentless consequences of having no social conscience
-Shelia provides a moralistic example for her family to follow, showing her development of empathy as she now “feels” remorse, but also an understanding on the detrimental impact capitalists have one society.
“drove that girl to suicide” “But you’re beginning it all over again to pretend that nothing has happened-“ “You’re beginning to pretend all over agin”
-Shelia is angered by the dismissive nature of her obviously exploitive and unscrupulous parents, urging them to stop “pretend all over again” as they all individually contribute to what “drove that girl to suicide”.
-As much as the inspector is used by Priestley as a dramatic vehicle, he uses Shelia as a recipient of his message and his mouthpiece as she take on the Inspector’s socialist ideologies- the identical ideologies that were possessed by Priestley.
-Thus, Shelia becomes a symbol of hope for a 1945 audience, ignorant and parsimonious individuals in society are capable of repenting and reforming when provided with a moral example. This providing hope that society can continue to progress and avoid regressing into the stagnant societal ideas of 1912.
-Repetition on ‘pretend’ shows she is trying to make them see they can’t remain oblivious to ignore their responsibility.
-plosives on “but”, “pretend” and “happened” creates a harsh sound akin to the harsh truth that responsibility is unavoidable
“But you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything he said had happened really had happened”
-personal pronoun “I’ shows she personally feels guilt that is plaguing her conscience.
-repetition of past tense “happened” shows that their actions are irreversible as they happened in the past. As they cannot chnage these actions, they must feel guilt and repent.
