An in depth essay of the character of Sheila Birling and how she impacts on the story of Inspector Calls by her actions and behaviour towards Gerald, the Inspector and her family. This essay is marked against an Eduqas mark scheme but the skills are transferable to an AQA mark scheme.
In J.B Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls", he presents Sheila Birling, the daughter of the Birlings. The
writer introduces her character as a naive, young woman who is celebrating her engagement with Gerald
Croft, enjoying the privileges she has in life. However, after the Inspector, Sheila quickly catches on to the
moral lesson the Inspector is trying to teach her and the other characters as they learn they have been
involved in Eva Smith's suicide.
In the first act, Sheila is presented with an engagement ring from her new fiancee, Gerald Croft and she
is obliged to show it off to the rest of her family: "Look Mummy, isn't it (ring) a beauty?'. Although a ring
may be symbol of love, it represents materialism which reflects on their relationship as something solely
based on capitalism and a business deal between Croft Limited and Birling Co. This also highlights the
shallowness of the upper class as the exterior of a ring looks beautiful yet the inside is decayed,
strategically done by Priestley to demonstrate the corrupt hearts of the upper class at the time. The use
of the personal pronoun 'Mummy' tells the audience that Sheila is established with a childish attitude
but this behaviour of hers at the start allows us to see the contrast later on in the play.
Developing through act one, Sheila is portrayed her to be immature and insecure of her own beauty as
her immediate reaction to Eva's death was to question her beauty when she says 'Pretty?'. Here, we can
infer that Sheila's grief was greater due to Eva being pretty, demonstrating her warped view of the world
which is to value someone's life depending on their outward beauty. Her view correlates with the social
hierarchy as those who are rich are able to improve their appearance. Furthermore, this validates that
the writer chooses to encourage the audience to form a negative perception of Sheila's inconsiderate
manner.
On the other hand, we see a drastic difference to Sheila, from someone who only cares about her looks
to someone who cares about the effects of pre-war society on people like Eva Smith. She addresses her
mother's callous attitude when Mrs Birling is being interrogated: "But, Mother, do stop before it's too
late." In this point of the play, she understands that the Inspector knows everything about the situation
regardless of their denial. Furthermore, the transition from 'Mummy' to 'Mother' shows she has changed
significantly and arguably, the playwright allows the audience to feel some sympathy towards her as it
may have been her parents' influence which has made her act like the way she did in Act 1.
To conclude, Sheila Birling's character is cleverly written by Priestley to demonstrate how someone could
carry out the message of despite others' influences of dehumanising ideologies: her change is most
apparent due to the fact she followed in her parents' capitalistic views at first then carried out a message
of socialism. Sheila is displayed as the ideal examplar to Edwardian and modern audiences, showing
them how they should react to the writer's moral lesson to encourage and to spread the need of greater
social responsibility.
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