How does Priestley present the character of Sheila in An Inspector Calls ? In the 1947 play, An Inspector Calls, the character of Sheila is utilized by Priestley to convey a number of key messages but somewhat passively, at least until the final act, when her character becomes more forceful. Sheila is the fiance to aristocrat Gerald Croft and daughter to capitalists Mr and Mrs Birling. Interestingly, Gerald is the son of Mr Birling’s greatest business rival and the marriage is presented as being as much of a business opportunity as a romantic partnership.Of all the characters in the play, Sheila develops the most. At first, Sheila is greatly concerned when she hears that her narrow-minded jealousy was one of the reasons for the death of an innocent girl, Eva Smith.
The character is Sheila Birling, daughter of Arthur Birling and Sybil Birling. Even though Sheila Birling seems very playful in the beginning of the play, we know that she has had suspicions about Gerald when she mentions “Yes - except for all last summer when you never came near me.” (Act 1,page 3) Although she has probably never in her life before considered the conditions of the workers, she shows her compassion immediately she hears of her father's treatment of Eva Smith. She feels full of guilt for her jealous actions and blames herself as "really responsible." She is very perceptive: she realises that Gerald knew Daisy Renton from his reaction, the moment the Inspector mentioned her name. At the end of Act II, she is the first to realise
Lastly, Priestley uses Sheila as a ‘Second Inspector’ in the play. As the start of Act 2, Sheila becomes more curious about the buried secrets in her 'perfect ' family and starts to see how each member of the family is coping with the death of Eva Smith. Her attitude changes from being sarcastic to more assertive, dominating and responsible. In her role as a "Second Inspector", she is often reinforcing Priestley 's beliefs about feminism and socialism. Sheila 's character creates a greater suspense in the play; as she interrogates each member of the family.
This is significant because Isabel protected the note even though Madam Lockton hurt her, and she didn't let her get what she wanted. She did what was right. This shows Isabel's character again as a strong woman, that is not afraid of going against others in pursuing her
“But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us…” in this J.B Priestley used a common last name to show how there are more people like Eva Smith that may need help. He also uses repetition of the word ‘millions’ to emphasize how many poor and lower class people there are. This links to the theme of responsibility and how J.B Priestley is showing “We are responsible for each
Babs on the other hand was very smart, intelligent and was she looked very like her mother when she was her age. Some of the major characteristic about Mrs. Slade is that she is very cocky and she likes to hold grudges. Because the thing that happen with Mrs. Ansley and her husband was a long time ago and she just couldn’t get over the fact that she went to meet up with him. But now she had another reason be mad because of the baby. Grace ansley in the story was a sweet beautiful lady, she was very classy, I could tell she looked a person who knew the right place and time to have a certain conversation when she tried to play it when Mrs. Slade brought up her
Mr.Birling is suddenly interrupted when Inspector Goole arrives to interrogate the Birlings about the suicide of a working-class women called Eva Smith; whose death was led by a series of events. The Birling’s are consumed with lies, lack of responsibility and the certain manipulation /powerfulness of the Inspector. The Inspector is used by J.B Priestley to communicate that our actions affect each other, and throughout this play Priestley portrays the Inspector’s character as dominant and superior: “Because what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events” pg 14. In this quote the Inspector uses repetitive language to get his point across, and Priestley makes the Inspector seem wise and humble, due to the fact that the Inspector is practically the only person in that room that knows that everyone affected Eva Smith in their own way, and he is not pointing the finger at anyone, because he knows that will cause more chaos.
Also, the Inspector attempts to expose the fact that Mr. Birling is pretending, this leads to adding pressure onto Mr. Birling making him rethink his false statement. The writer slowing down the pace of the Inspector by making hi more “(slowly)” adds to the factor of intimidation. In addition to that, the Inspector tells Mr. birling about how “public men Mr. Birling have responsibilities as well as privileges”, in this quote the tries to create a sense of guilt to rise in Mr. Birling. He accuses the Birlings individually not as a social group. Priestly tries to make the Inspector make the Birlings feel ashamed and
I called him Freddy or Charlie same as you might yourself if you were talking to a stranger and wished to be pleasant. [She sits down beside her basket].¨ Eliza may indeed deny That she didn't deceive Mrs.Hill but in technicality she did and that is deceiving now if we apply this to Higgins comes out the same. When we first meet Higgins back in Act 1 he appears to be a Gentlemen who must be respected by his peers and his dialect only adds the illusion but further down the road it is shown he is a bully or as some might say a tyrant Higgins is not as he seems and we can tell just by the way he interacts with Eliza vs. Others such as his interaction with Freddy in act 3 ¨HIGGINS [looking at him much as if he were a pickpocket] I'll take my oath I've met you before somewhere. Where was
This leads the audience to trust the Inspector’s perspective, as a communicator of positive, socialist change. In addition, the Inspector provokes Mrs Birling into blaming the “drunken young idler”, which the audience knows is Eric, evincing dramatic irony. On realising that Eric is the drunk, she tries to retract her statement highlighting the double standards and hypocrisy of the upper class moral code. Contrasting to their parents, the younger Birlings are shown to be socially responsible and regretful for their actions contributing to the untimely death of Eva Smith. This symbolises Priestley’s hope of the younger generation instigating social