Sheila In An Inspector Calls

This progresses to a more obvious display of emotion “I think it was a mean thing to do” this openly criticizes her father, something which would have been heavily unexpected and seriously punished ,with the inspectors presence Sheila can present the change of attitudes of the younger generations. Priestley was attempting to show that the change in attitudes of the upper class will not be instant; the younger generation will be the catalyst for the change in attitudes towards the lower classes.

"What about this girl?" Her role is to be the girl that needs to know

In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses different characters to portray women. At the start of the play, Sheila is seen as fragile, materialistic and inferior to the men in her life, which is typically the view of higher-class women. This is followed by the perspective of lower class women having excellent morals yet being disposable, which is seen through Eva Smith’s character. This contradicts to Mrs Birling’s control on others and her strong social class views.

At the beginning of Act 2 we found out that Gerald had an affair with

When she find out about her father’s involvement, her attitude begins to change slightly, and she says “I think it was a mean thing to do. Perhaps that spoilt everything for her” which shows that she understands that her father is partly responsible for Eva Smith’s death, and she sees how he could have had something to do with it, whereas, he doesn’t see how he could be responsible, responding to Sheila’s comment with “Rubbish!”. This is the first example we see of the differences between the younger and older generations, as Sheila can see how Mr Birling could be at fault, whereas he is denying any responsibility, and insists it was all Eva Smith’s own fault. The fact that Sheila is portrayed as a naïve child at first, but then begins to understand how her father could’ve impacted Eva Smith’s life demonstrates Priestley’s idea that the younger generation are also more open to change, and to accepting what they have done

This shows symbolism, Sheila is representing the young youth and women in general, she is taking a stand for all the lower class women who aren’t treated very well by the society, and this also comes back to JB Priestley’s message from this book that we’re all responsible for each other, and we all have to look out for each other.

Comparison of The Attitudes Of Arthur Birling And Sheila Birling From An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

“An Inspector Calls” written by J.B Priestley is about the unexpected suicide of a lower class working girl called Eva Smith. Every character in the play played a big part in her demise. Mr Birling fired her from his own business, Sheila got her fired from Milwards, Gerald had an affair with her, Eric raped her making her pregnant and Mrs Birling rejected her from her charity when she was desperate. At the end of the play Eva is shown to be desperate because she is in the Palace Bar, J.B Priestley reflects society in each and every character. In this play its shown that the lower class have to obey and be in awe of the upper class.

In act one; we know that Sheila is upset with Gerald due to the fact that he didn’t spend much time with her the summer before. However when Gerald presents to her the engagement ring and she puts it on, she admires and says that she is very excited and that she will never let it go out of her sight for an instant. This clearly epitomizes the fact that she believes that her engagement to Gerald will bring her and her family up in their social class. We can also tell that moving in the social ladder is very important to the berlins especially the parents as they continuously suck up to Gerald. Mr birling boasts about his business and wealth and even feels the need to mention to Gerald that he drinks the same wine as his parents. In additions he makes a speech about being very happy that Sheila is engaged as he knows what comes in for him. Similarly Mrs birling stops Sheila from expressing how she feels about Gerald’s disappearance, but she shuts her up by saying that women just have to get used to them type of things. It clearly shows that the billings are dependent on Sheila to bring them up in the social ladder and links to the fact that they have as capitalist way of thinking. Sheila refuses to be submissive to this and lead up to the expectations of the 20th century’s gender roles. Though this is the case, Sheila fails to meets these expectations by the end of the

In the play, An Inspector Calls, the character of Eric is presented in a myriad of ways. When the audience is first introduced to Eric, he is proven to be juvenile and ignorant - shown by his nonchalance towards his sister’s marriage and Birling’s advice. As the play develops however, it become clear that this most likely was inherited from his parents, who don’t even acknowledge the existence of the working class as being human beings. In Birling’s factory, the working class are de-humanised as they enter and become lifeless droids - who have no need for the luxuries of money nor a roof over their heads, not to mention sanitary conditions – whose lives are simply parts in a factory which can be replaced effortlessly. Furthermore, Mrs

Dramatic Tension in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls An Inspector Calls was written in 1946, many decades after the end of World War One and just after World War Two. However the actual play is back in 1912; before World War one and just before the start of voyage of The Titanic. Furthermore at the time of spring 1912, most people did not fear of German resistance, as there seemed to be no possibility that Britain would intervene; and they had all justified that the Titanic was unsinkable.

To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses unhypocritical, more experienced characters like Atticus to expose Jem and Scout to adult knowledge. Their adult influence is what brings about the empathetic growth and maturity of Jem and Scout.

An Inspector Calls is a play written by JB Priestley. It was set straight after the Second World War where the men and society was completely different to the ones nowadays.The society would be capitalist and the rich would be rich and the poor poor. In this play he presents a wide range of themos.

J.B Priestley uses the character Sheila to portray his ideas to the audience. One of the author's / playwright’s techniques is the change within Sheila, from a young girl that desires material things to a conscientious and clear headed woman who makes a conscious decision to admit her failings. After the inspector started talking to Sheila, the audience quickly found out that she did actually have a part in the events that lead to the death of Eva Smith / Daisy Renton. Sheila had forced the manager at Millwards to fire Eva / Daisy because she was jealous of how well the dress fitted her. As soon as she admitted to making the manager fire Eva Smith / Daisy Renton she then defended herself by saying, “she was a pretty girl and looked like she

Inspector calls is a play written by the author J.B priestly. Set in 1912, but performed in 1945, after 2 world wars, this play evolves around the suicide of a pregnant working-class girl whose name is Eva smith. An inspector by the name of Goole, questions the involvement of a family business with the name Birling.Co and its upper-class owners. Priestly, being a socialist, writes this play to prevent a social divide between classes. I believe Eva Smith is the most important character in AIC even though she never appears during the play. Priestly uses her as a metaphor for socialism, catalyst for responsibility and highlights the corruption of men.