This essay will look at society’s attitude towards women at this period in time. I will look at examples within the play, in particular the language and actions of the characters. I will find out how the writer J.B Priestly portrayed women at this time and in this setting.
The play begins with an engagement party for Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. By marrying Gerald, Sheila father’s business and social status will improve greatly, so I believe that Mr Birling is using her as an object to gain more power and money. Sheila and Gerald do still seem to love each other, so this does not seem to be a ‘arranged marriage’, though this was common at this period in time. The women in the play seem to agree / did not question the way they were treated …show more content…
Birling and Sheila. This tells me that the two female characters are http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=mrs+birling actually the more dominant one under it all. My point is up front Mr. Birling and Sheila are treated like any women of that time with statements such as “Women like to talk about clothes, sign of self respect”. But when you get down to just looking at each of the characters behaviours the women are very domineering and very strong, such as when Sheila is told to leave the room or go to bed she refuses and sits down to listen to the inspector, and when the story of Eva smith is being told she is disgusted at how this girl was treated and wishes that she could helper her or apologise at least.
Actually what I have noticed is that there is a lot of generationism. The conflicts between the older generation and the younger generation show the play. Although there isn't much conflict at the start of the play, as the Inspector puts pressure on each character the atmosphere becomes more and more tense. Sheila and Eric and also Gerald were willing to accept their responsibility, whereas Mr. and Mrs. Birling were
The play begins with an engagement party for Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. By marrying Gerald, Sheila father’s business and social status will improve greatly, so I believe that Mr Birling is using her as an object to gain more power and money. Sheila and Gerald do still seem to love each other, so this does not seem to be a ‘arranged marriage’, though this was common at this period in time. The women in the play seem to agree / did not question the way they were treated …show more content…
Birling and Sheila. This tells me that the two female characters are http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=mrs+birling actually the more dominant one under it all. My point is up front Mr. Birling and Sheila are treated like any women of that time with statements such as “Women like to talk about clothes, sign of self respect”. But when you get down to just looking at each of the characters behaviours the women are very domineering and very strong, such as when Sheila is told to leave the room or go to bed she refuses and sits down to listen to the inspector, and when the story of Eva smith is being told she is disgusted at how this girl was treated and wishes that she could helper her or apologise at least.
Actually what I have noticed is that there is a lot of generationism. The conflicts between the older generation and the younger generation show the play. Although there isn't much conflict at the start of the play, as the Inspector puts pressure on each character the atmosphere becomes more and more tense. Sheila and Eric and also Gerald were willing to accept their responsibility, whereas Mr. and Mrs. Birling were