J.B.Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls :: English Literature

An tester CallsDiscuss the character of Sheila in An Inspector CallsSheila Birling is the daughter of Mr Arthur Birling and Mrs SybilBirling. She has a younger brother called Eric Birling. Sheila is inher early twenties and is in a high social class. until now they aresaid to be nouveux rishe because her father wasnt born into awealthy family, he made his own way through emotional state to be were he is.This, in a way, justifies the billet and whileners his children andhimself. What I mean by this is that he hasnt got the sophistedvocabulary we would expect a man in his position would have. Sheilaand Eric also seem to have this lack of readiness and sophistecatedvocabulary.Dont be an assSheila says this to Eric at the table. As we asshole see this is kind of a amodern vocabulary and not proper of a sizable family.This contrastsgrately with the behaviour and vacabulary of her mother.Sheila shows herself as an impressionable girl. She is willing toaccept new ideas and concept s. She has an unspoilt and attractivecharacter and shows quite a different character than that of herparents. She is not so cold-blooded. This makes her able to changeher attitude as the dally progresses.I ideate Sheila represents two of the deadly sins. She represents envyin the break where she went to buy the dress. She envied the way Evalooked in the dress. She also represents wrath (great anger).. Shrepresents this mostly in her behaviour at Milwards.Sheila, before the inspector comes, is very immature and quitenave as well.. She seems to say rather immature things especially toEric victimisation put one across phrases such as Youre squiffy. This shows herlittle intelligence towards the power Gerald has over her. Shedoesnt seem to realise that she is using slang vocabulary infront ofher fianc which belongs to a high status family.Early in the antic she shows herself to be a very dependent girl,looking to her parents for most decisions that imply to be made. Hermarriage to Gerald was a marriage of businesses, as well as love. Idoubt Sheila saw this at the time, or just handle this fact.Sheila is also quite a spoilt girl since she has everything she wants.This is shown in her attitude in Milwards. Here she shows that sherelies on others and cares little for the lower classes. I thinkPriestly chooses to represent her like this at first so that we canrealise the big change she makes as the play progresses.