An Inspector Calls
Discuss the character of Sheila in “An Inspector Calls”
Sheila Birling is the daughter of Mr Arthur Birling and Mrs Sybil
Birling. She has a younger brother called Eric Birling. Sheila is in
her early twenties and is in a high social class. However they are
said to be “nouveux rishe” because her father wasn’t born into a
wealthy family, he made his own way through life to be were he is.
This, in a way, justifies the attitude and manners his children and
himself. What I mean by this is that he hasnt got the sophisted
vocabulary we would expect a man in his position would have. Sheila
and Eric also seem to have this lack of “manners” and sophistecated
vocabulary.
“Dont be an ass”
Sheila says this to Eric at the table. As we can see this is quite a
modern vocabulary and not proper of a rich family.This contrasts
grately with the behaviour and vacabulary of her mother.
Sheila shows herself as an impressionable girl. She is willing to
accept new ideas and concepts. She has an honest and attractive
character and shows quite a different character than that of her
parents. She is not so “cold-blooded”. This makes her able to change
her attitude as the play progresses.
I think Sheila represents two of the deadly sins. She represents envy
in the shop where she went to buy the dress. She envied the way Eva
looked in the dress. She also represents wrath (great anger).. Sh
represents this mostly in her behaviour at Milwards.
Sheila, before the inspector comes, is very immature and quite
naïve as well.. She seems to say rather immature things especially to
Eric using slang phrases such as “You’re squiffy”. This shows her
little consciousness towards the power Gerald has over her. She
doesn’t seem to realise that she is using slang vocabulary infront of
her fiancé which belongs to a high status family.
Early in the play she shows herself to be a very dependent girl,
looking to her parents for most decisions that need to be made. Her
marriage to Gerald was a marriage of businesses, as well as love. I
doubt Sheila saw this at the time, or just ignored this fact.
Sheila is also quite a spoilt girl since she has everything she wants.
This is shown in her attitude in Milwards. Here she shows that she
relies on others and cares little for the lower classes. I think
Priestly chooses to represent her like this at first so that we can
realise the big change she makes as the play progresses.
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
it will create. He makes a toast to the couple and to the fact that
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
The war was said to bring fire blood & anguish in to our lives. WW1 -
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
Drama in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley is the author of 'An Inspector Calls', he wrote and published the play in 1945. The play he created was set in an industrial town called 'Brumley'. In 'An Inspector Calls' there are six main characters, one being an inspector who goes by the name of Goole. Inspector Goole questions the five other characters about a young working-class woman's, named Eva, death. During questioning, each of the Birling family, Sheila, Eric, Sybil and Arthur, all reveal that they have a secret connection with Eva, along with Gerald Croft, who is engaged to Sheila Birling.
J.B. Priestley's Motives Behind An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894. His mother
How Priestley Presents His Ideas To An Audience In Act One Of An Inspector Calls
The playwrights of ‘The Crucible’ and ‘An Inspector Calls’, were J.B Priestly and Arthur Miller, these plays are very different but have one in common which was the main theme of the play, this is what I will be talking about in this essay. The similar things about these plays is that both of them link to their playwrights past, such as J.B Priestly, he wrote a play that was set in 1912, showing that people who were selfish can change to someone who cares, this links to when he was at war as he recognised that the higher class was giving orders to lower classes and didn’t care about most of them, but after the war these people changed to someone who felt guilty, as they saw how devastating the war was. This is what Priestly wanted to show to
I was in the Infirmary looking at what was left of Eva Smith. A nice
upon so many levels. On the surface it is a simple tale of how one man
when she says, 'I sat for a bit looking up at me and Wilfred on the
Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young
basement where she would not be noticed right away. He then tied her up to make it look
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.