shiela birling Flashcards
initial description of Sheila
shallow and naive mouthpiece for upper class girls, vauge and static description as ‘excited’ and ‘pretty’
symbolism of her engagement
formed on materialistic outdated views of courtship, she only ‘really feels engaged’ once she sees the phsyical motif of the ring, showing the superficial aspect of upper class marriage. her regecting it continues the motif and symbolises her shift to socialism
sheila saying ‘pretty?’ about eva explained
before the reveal of her part we grow wary of her values as deeply rooted in jealously and superficialism, its a very warped view to base the liking of a dead girl off of her looks- and the inspector, a moutpice for socialism juxatposes this in his response. it also extends to class as good looks are associated with the upper class ability to buy makeup and clothes, creating a dislike for sheilas fragile and hollow mindst.
sheilas jealously explained
looks are a central part of being respected, her fear is validated by gerlad who uses eva despite bing an inferior girl because of her looks- harshly intergecting that he ‘hates’ the other ‘hard eyed dough faced women’- for sheila maintaining geralds loyalty is how she will survive and so she needs it
how is sheila a victim
shes raised in a world where women have no basic rights, jobs, votes or finance- she requires loyalty from a rich husband- so shes a victim of her circumstance in her warped priorities. her family is miopic and so instead of rage priestly likely hopes to teahc us empathy for sheilas brainwashing,
parralels between sheila and eva- why
the juxaposition and yet parralels show the effect of the unjust class system- this ties into class. theyre both pretyy girls in their early 20s. but its this that shows the effect of class- sheila is blissfllly ‘excited’ as she lives in a class bubble with no knowlege of injustice- eva is much smarter and more knowlegable f the fact she will not become anything- creating a sad hopeless sense in the lower class- even when approached by richer men she knows they are praised for their chivalry for aiding a ‘fallen woman’ but will not marry her ever. draws symapthy for shiela as eva is a similar and morally pirsitne girl, shiela is but aproduct of her enviroment, they both have to surrender their autonomy to men
sheilas remorse explained
she has an immediate snap to responsibility NONE of the others do- this is becaus epf both her youth, minority as a woman and parralles to eva
priestly shows here the dire need for change and how receptible females and youths are to a more just world when educated
‘wed have to start all over again’ from sheial explained
here she only half rejects the motif of the ring, which brings forth the cyclical structure as even she hasnt fully given up on her apst views, shes slowly readjusting to the principle metaphor for a capitalist marriage
‘these girls arent cheap labour- theyre people’ explained
here sheila is yet to learn of her wrongs, yet shes already throguh her bliss very receptible to the wrings of capitalism- showing the freddom of the yotuh. the term girls humanises the workers and actually gives them youth, creating sympathy
sheila as a an ideal proxy
sheila acts as the inspectors proxy, his counterpart , once he departs, likely due to her youth and parrallels to eva. she can show the audience how to behave
sheilas change in repenting her mother
tieing into generational divide she starts by echoing her mother suse of the word ‘impertinent’ showing her position as a mindless mouthpiece to the older gen, but by the end she is rejecting her parents values
sheila and hysteria explained
its a blatnatly sexist term, hyst means uterus and was an old mental disorder used to diagnose overly emotive women, essentially an act of repression against them. here sheilas emotional excess is her shock and passion for jsutice and as the audeince we band with her against the evdeintly misognisitic oposition, having them be prejudice diminishes th charcters poltiical righteousness.
infantilisation of sheila
shes phsyically downplayed as a child, gerals says ‘shes had a long, exciting and tiring day’ as well as a consant use of infantile langauge such as ‘mummy’- very patronising. in fact the audience would associate relief with the insepctor referring to her as a ‘young woman’
how is sheilas message receptible to the audeince
the audience begins to associate a sense of relief with the inspector when he interupts the men, and when sheila steps in as his proxy she inherits this. he juxtaposes the sexist, immoral capitalist characters extreme wrongs with the morally pristine socailist side
sheilas rejection of her parents
the motif of the word impertinent is a consant, as a word it symbolises a backwards view of a hierarchy, and in sheila echoing it she is mindlessly passing down her mothers genes, so when she rejects it as ‘sucha silly word’ shes outwardly oposing the views. silly is very informal and shows her heartfelt change, but she also gains an ability to adopt harsher and more interlectual wordds such as ‘cruel and vile’
change from mummy to mother, mrs b follows inspector and refers to her as a young woman
