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Summary Explore how the character of Sheila changes over the course of the play
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Explore how the character of Sheila changes over the course of the play I got a A in English
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Explore how the character of Sheila changes over the course of the playThe character of Sheila develops enormously over the course of the play. There
are many significant changes. The typical expectation for a girl like Sheila in
1912 is that she would not be involved in the business world, her day to day
life is expected to be superficial. Shopping, lunch parties and accompanying
her mother on visits and getting married fills her timer. To get married to a
respectable, wealthy and better class of man like Gerald represents a huge
success for Sheila and her family. Priestley show this when Sheila is presented
as “pleased with life” at her engagement dinner.
J.B Priestley through his use of his stage directions makes Sheila act like a child
when the Inspector shows her the photograph (she) “looks at it closely,
recognizes it with a little cry, gives a half-stifled sob and then runs out”. This
shows the audience that she is still immature and not sensible because
children would have done the same as Sheila did; they would cry and leave the
room if they got in trouble or if they did anything wrong. However, gradually as
the character develops through the play, she is behaving more like an adult as
she tries and controls herself. “She almost breaks down, but just control
herself” at this point in the play Priestley is showing the audience how the
character is trying to change. Later on in the scene Priestley asks that the
actress playing the character of Sheila “merely nods”. This shows us that Sheila
is being more mature. Sheila is being more responsible and sensible and is
trying to behave in a more socially responsible and adult way. Arguably,
Sheila’s character is the one that goes through the most obvious
transformation in front of the audience’s very eyes.
Arguably at the start of the play Sheila was happy spending a lot of time in an
expensive shop. In her view, Eva was someone who could be fired due to spite
because Sheila was her social superior. "I went to the manager at Millwards
and I told him that if they didn't get rid of that girl, I'd never go near the place
again and I'd persuade mother to close our account with them". When she
looks at the photo she recognises Eva Smith or Daisy Renton. She regrets her
behaviour “never, never do it again to anybody". The audience sees Sheila as a
, very honest person and she admits that she was jealous and that she was
insulted and realises that she is spoilt and selfish. She admits she abused her
position of power and influence over the staff in Millward .The younger
generation are more helpful and they will accept what they have done. Sheila
and Eric accept their part in Eva’s death and feel guilty and responsible about
Eva or Daisy death. She admits she abused her position of power and influence
over the staff in Millwards. This awareness of her own behaviour is what
makes her a more sympathetic character to the audience.
Even though she seems happy and a contented person at the opening, we
know that she has suspected something when she mentions "last summer,
when you never came near me”. This shows that she is not as naive as she first
appears and she wants to know and find out what Gerald was doing last
summer. She is “playful” as she does not realise the truth at this stage.
She is shocked by her part in Eva's story and what she did. She blames herself
as "really responsible." And she says “All right Gerald, you needn't look at me
like that. At least I'm trying to tell the truth. I expect you’ve done things you’re
ashamed of too”. Sheila takes responsibility for her actions and she tells the
truth. Gerald is being less responsible than her of her because he has not yet
taken responsibility for his own actions. She really wants to know about Gerald
part in the story. It's interesting that she is not angry but she is sad when she
hears about the affair and she says that she respects his honesty because no
one was honest at first. She is learning about the mistake made. This
intensifies and she become angry with her parents in Act 3 for trying to
"pretend that nothing much has happened”. She cannot understand how they
cannot have learnt from the evening as she has. She is seeing her parents in a
new light and in a different mood. The audience would see Sheila changing;
she is standing up to her parents and their whole way of life. This is
exemplified when she gives Gerald the ring back. This shows her need to break
with the past and people’s previous expectations of her
Sheila becomes more defensive towards her parents as the Inspector makes
her realise that her actions had such an important effect on Eva’s life. Her
behaviour was selfish and thoughtless. She did not care at the time that Eva
would struggle to find another job and probably did not even know that this
was the case as she was unaware of how hard it was for poor, working class
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