The Importance Of Sheila In An Inspector Calls

Improved Essays
The Importance of Sheila in ‘An Inspector Calls’
An Inspector Calls, written by J.B Priestley in 1945, is a morality play that denounces capitalism and argues that social justice can be achieved if everyone takes responsibility for his actions. The drama also illustrates the clear division between class, the role of women in 1912 and gender equality. - Make sure that these are still relevant. Sheila Birling, one of the major characters acts as a device used by Priestley to convey his message about the importance of social responsibility which is the overarching theme of the play. Socialism was extremely important to Priestley because he became very concerned about the consequences of social inequality in Britain. Priestley was so committed
…show more content…
After Mrs. Birling tells the Inspector that he is having a huge impact on Sheila’s behaviour, the inspector replies, “we often do, they are more impressionable.” This suggests that the younger generation are more open to change and responsibility. Sheila and Eric are part of the younger generation; and although they may be less knowledgeable due to their age, they are the only two characters in the drama who accept their negligent behaviour. Perhaps Priestley wants the audience to recognise that by teaching their children to have a social conscience, the standard of life will be improved across all social classes. Furthermore, Mr. Birling is conveyed as an egotistical individual; he only cares about his own well being. This is apparent when he does not hesitate about firing Eva Smith. Sheila is hurt by …show more content…
The female characters are portrayed as being delicate; especially Sheila, whom the men try to shelter from Eva Smith’s suicide. This is because men were believed to be superior, whilst women were only seen as housewives. “But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they're people." When Sheila realises the social inequality and ignorance in the world around her she becomes more solicitous of the working woman and changes the way she interacts with those less fortunate than her. She finally notices that the upper-class attitude towards the lower class is inhumane.
At the end of the play, Sheila’s character is presented as a strong individual who has matured. When Sheila warns her family that the Inspector is “giving us rope so that we hang ourselves”. She uses a metaphor to create a visual image. Furthermore, her language becomes bolder, she uses sarcasm and irony. “I suppose we are all nice people now”. The use of irony represents the tension between the changing younger generation, and the conservative older generation. Sheila shows the audience that she has matured considerably by bravely taking responsibility for the part she played in Eva Smith’s

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Furthermore, considering all the characters in the play, Mr Birling is the only one who puts business first, then family which makes him an egotistical man. However, this does not suggest the rest of the family are loving and caring. At the start in act 1 Gerald thinks that the Birling’s seem to be to be “a nice, well behaved family” but little do the audience know about the murky secrets lurking behind their polite and polished…

    • 1449 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How Priestley Presents Gerald At the end of Act One, Gerald reveals that he knew Daisy Renton, and Sheila’s suspicions of the previous summer, when Gerald wouldn’t go near her, were solved. At the beginning of Act Two, he admits the affair to the Inspector. When Gerald begins explaining the story, Sheila or Mrs. Birling would butt in frequently, Sheila usually saying something smart, like ‘Well, we didn’t think you meant Buckingham Palace-‘.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No matter how educated or strong a lady is, she still ends up being a sidekick or depicted as inferior by the writer to the audience. As a possible solution to this problem Douglas insists that we continue to empower strong women in television to keep feminism growing and improving. If we choose to accept the inequality of males and females in society and TV we will never be able to finally give ladies the credit and praise they so rightfully deserve. Three useful Quotations A quote from the text that summarizes Douglas’s point pretty well is, “These shows seem good for women.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is worried about how the public will view the story in act 3. He wants to hide the fact that Eric stole money rather than deal with the issue that his son is at ‘rock bottom’ by saying "I've got to cover this up as soon as I can" we can see Birling’s blatant disregard to how someone that cannot get him any financial or social gain feels. Eric on the other hand fully admits his wrong doings and accepts responsibility. Birling being part of the older generation is represented as the exact person that Priestley hates. He is completely unsympathetic towards Eva Smith and will take no responsibility for his actions as his self-important behaviour makes helps to convince himself that he has done nothing wrong this can be shown in his wife when Mrs Birling states “I think she had only herself to blame.”…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    IsmaelDembeleWk15EngHW How does the play present it’s attitude towards women in the play? As one of the main goals for the play, JB Priestley presents his socialist views as keeping everyone as ‘one body’, and aims to reflect that through the ideologies of the Inspector. However, there are many wrongdoings and imbalances in society at that time, and this was reflected through the remainder of the characters in the play. One of the greatest ones is the injustice towards women at the time, and this was explained in spectacular detail through a ‘poster child’ Eva Smith, a working class woman who ended up committing suicide, setting off the events in the play.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Society is predominantly patriarchal. It is expected that men are the successful breadwinners and women are the housewives. Looking at a piece of Literature with a gender lens requires the reader to focus on how a work reflects or distorts these gender norms in society. In My Antonia the gender lens can be applied to reveal the overarching theme of self reliance. More specifically the gender lens can be applied to reveal the self-reliance of pioneer women such as Lena and Antonia.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At the beginning of the play the Inspector turns up unexpectedly, interrupting the discussion between Mr Birling, Eric and Gerald about how everyone must only look after themselves, ‘a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself’. The timing of when the Inspector enters is very peculiar because the Inspector talks about Eva Smith and how everyone in the family is linked to the suicide which counterattacks what Mr Birling had said a few moments ago. The Inspector shows his view to Mr Birling’s little speech at the end when he gives his final speech, before he leaves, where he says, ‘We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.’…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Sweet Girl Graduate by Sarah Curzon focuses on this specific representation of gender where the heroine of the play is attempting to comply to societal norms by cross-dressing in order to receive a higher education. The heroine is obliging to the gender hierarchy that exists, and as a result, this portrays the heroine as someone who is attempting to break away from male dominance, while at the same time accepting it as women were expected to. The representation of gender roles in The Sweet Girl Graduate creates a contradictory perception of what women are meant to achieve in the play, and this is due to the portrayal of the heroine as a free individual; however, at the same time she is subjected to follow the status quo forced…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm was popularly known as the “Grimms Brothers”, were characterized as one of the most dramatic writers in the 19th century. They were categorized by their short, simple sentences, colloquial language, and their well-organized approach to craft writings. Their writing was entitled Little Snow White, it was released in 1937 and it was about Snow White, a princess who falls into a deep, death-like rest after taking a bite from a poisoned apple. My impression about this narrative was an innocent little girl who had her step-mother hating her because of her beauty and kind-heart. The Little Snow-White by the Grimms Brothers is a fairy tale that reveals the goodness and the beauty of a little princess who is loved by all, however,…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the beginning there is the strong father- daughter closeness between the two whereas at the end there is a strong division between their attitudes to each other and opinions on their social status. This could be a way to make the audience ponder what would happen if the inspector were to return with the younger generation of characters having their new perspective on things. It’s as if Mr Birling represents capitalism, being a character who indubitably follows the system and Sheila represents socialism, being more amorphous after her character had been shattered by the inspector and recent events. Priestley’s message is that there should be a more socialist society which Sheila appears to believe by the end, or second beginning, of the…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They only concerned about what other people will look at them. The younger generations continue to feel guilty and they get angry at the older birlings for thinking that nothing bad has happen. The clash here shows the big difference in generations. This is what Priestley trying to show overall. Priestley has use the keyword “hope” to put across in an inspector calls that perhaps the younger generations will be more conscious of the idea of community and they will help each other.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel, North and South, sets the values of Southern England against those of the North in order to examine the principles of Victorian life through its public and private spheres. Gaskell’s characters inhabit a world that is complicated by social change, and through Margaret Hale, the novel’s protagonist, Gaskell is able to compare these spheres and consider the ways in which they become connected. In her article, “The Female Visitor and the Marriage of Classes in Gaskell’s North and South” Dorice Williams Elliott identifies Margaret’s role in the novel as that of a mediator who bridges the public and private spheres. She believes Margaret’s participation in the “social conversations, industrial debates and ideologies of…

    • 1935 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The gender roles that they have to fulfil takes a tole of them as they have little power in their relationship so in turn they exert their dominance over the maids. If we psychoanalyse the gender of the author Tate Taylor being a male, he would’ve designed clips like this to show the power in balance and set parameters of women in the…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie ‘Scarface’, starring Al Pacino, is a classic film to many. The movie revolves around a Cuban immigrant who goes from poor to rich, creating a vast cocaine dealing empire. There are numerous violent power struggles between the main character, Tony Montana, and other kingpins in Miami. ‘Scarface’ constantly objectifies women, sexualizing them and giving them little importance. All women in the film are portrayed as weak, uneducated, and irrational, common stereotypes associated with females.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood reveals six different scenarios about two main characters named John and Mary. She begins with scenario A to show a version of a perfect fairytale story, “Section A is the most typical, uncomplicated, most unrealistic scenario that results in a happy ending.” By the end of the short story the readers can notice that the conflicts are different but the endings stay the same. The author stereotypes the two main characters by gender, causes the reader to focus on the plot and includes symbolism and irony through the short story. When people think of fairytales they imagine a princess and prince charming but that is not the case here.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays