Character Analysis of Sheila in An Inspector Calls Essay Sample

JB Priestley first introduces Sheila as a spoilt girl raised by a successful manufacturer and a capitalist family who cares for their status and role in the world. However, throughout the play Priestley develops the character Sheila from a juvenile, immature girl who is sheltered away by her family's wealth into a more mature and understanding young lady. Priestley uses Sheila to represent the younger generation and how they can transform from a capitalist to a socialist society, which Priestley was a strong supporter of, and shows that younger generations can learn from their mistakes.  

At the start of Act 1, we get more insight into Sheila and how she behaves. In the stage directions, it tells us that the lighting ‘should be pink and intimate’, this shows Sheila and the Birlings to be looking though rose-tinted glasses and gives the audience an understanding of how the upper-class view life as something that is perfect with not a single flaw. It also tells us Sheila is ‘very pleased with life and rather excited’, the word ‘excited’ can tell us she is looking forward to life but could also be referring to Sheila’s ignorance and unawareness of the world surrounding her and how difficult life can be, this is continued through the fact she is ‘very pleased with life’. Priestly also shows this when Sheila ‘used the power [she] had’ to go to the manager and demand ‘if they didn't get rid of [Eva Smith], [she would] never go near the place again’ just because she was jealous of the other girl; she acted very sudden under her emotions and did not think of the consequences it would have on the girl who would be fired and exploited her upper-class power. In her very first line the stage directions instantly tell us that she says it ‘gaily’ and ‘possessively’ which immediately presents her in an immature way and gives the audience a perception of her. She refers to her mother and father as ‘daddy’ and ‘mummy’, Priestley does this to show Sheila as still being a younger child and not being raised properly as these words are usually connected to younger children and to present Sheila as a naïve character. In the stage directions, we are also instantly seeing Sheila to be childish as Priestley describes her as a ‘girl’ despite him also calling her in her early twenties to which many would consider a young adult, this represents her as not being mature and not growing up. 

Priestley also illustrates Sheila as materialistic; this is especially shown in when Gerald gives Sheila her ring and she asks him if it was ‘the one [Gerald] wanted [her] to have’. This gives the impression that Sheila does care for nice, expensive things and cares for the worth of it. Also, this shows Sheila is used to getting what she wants, and she is used to getting everything given to her. Furthermore, Sheila is shown to be fulfilling the stereotype women had in their time because she is just complying with what her husband wants her to have and being a second to Gerald. Sheila does not choose which ring she got, and it was all Gerald’s decision which Priestly does to show the inequality and male dominance in their relationship. After getting the ring she says that ‘now [she] feels really engaged’. The reader may infer from this that Sheila needs physical proof to express love and she obsesses over materialistic things. This could derive from the capitalist views her parents have brought her up on and portrays her as a selfish shielded girl. The ring also symbolises how Sheila and Gerald’s relationship is less on love and more for Sheila and her family to increase their status and social standing. Mr Birling makes this clear because he sees it as more of a business opportunity for ‘lower costs and higher prices’.  In addition, ‘Sheila kisses Gerald hastily’, the word ‘hastily’ shows Sheila felt compelled to reward him back. This also links back to their time setting where women were seen as lesser then men to represent the inequality in capitalism and to show socialism being the more beneficial option. 

With the inspector’s influence, Sheila starts to change, and she begins to feel sympathetic towards Eva Smith and she starts to have remorse for her. She recognises the mistakes she has made and feels guilty for them, she tells the inspector ‘If [she] could help her now, she would’, this insinuates Sheila she regrets what she did and what it led to, as well as that it shows that the inspector is beginning to have a positive impact on Sheila and shows her changing for the better. Her remorsefulness is also shown through her describing her emotions as she is ‘ashamed’ and ‘desperately sorry’. She tells her father that ‘these girls aren’t cheap labour – they're people’, this gives the idea that Sheila cares for the lower class and that she realises how unfairly they have been treated, which already shows how quickly her character has developed and how much of an effect the inspector has had on her that she has gone from someone uncaring for the lower class to someone standing up for them. Priestley uses a contrast between the two generations to signify the older generations are more arrogant and ignorant towards the lower class and stick to the capitalist ideology whereas the younger generations have time to change for the better to achieve equality.  

Sheila also takes responsibility and recognises that her actions and wrong doings lead to Eva’s suicide. She tells the inspector that ‘it was [her] own fault’ which shows she becomes fully aware of how selfish she acted and gives the audience hope for her to turn into a better human being. As well as this she admits she was jealous of Eva Smith when the Inspector asks her if she ‘might have said to be jealous of her’ and she responds ‘yes, I suppose so’, this means that Sheila now understands what she did wrong. Priestley creates irony in the things Sheila says because she had acted the same at the start of the book, Sheila laughs at the word ‘impertinent’ when someone else had said it and said it was ‘silly’, however that was the word Sheila used to get Eva fired from her job, Priestley symbolises change this way. Priestley does this to create a comparison between Sheila at the start of the book to later on and to emphasise her character development. Sheila at the start of the book was happily engaged to Gerald and wanted to benefit her status however she gives the ring back after she hears Gerald. If she stayed married to Gerald, it would block her from being the best person she can be but would help her in wealth and status, because she gave the ring back, she is showing her morals to have changed. Even when the inspector leaves Sheila is persistent to his ideas and want her family to remember him and what he has said. She says that her parents are pretending nothing happened with the inspector and that they are just living their life the same way as before just like nothing had happened, accepting that things will not be the same again. 

In conclusion, Sheila does the most dramatic and admirable change of all the characters and was once presented as someone who was fully dependant on her parents and other people, to someone who is mature and can handle things herself. She is determined to make a change in her family and society, Priestley uses this to symbolise her as youth becoming better and a chance for a future with socialism.