Shiela Birling

“Oh - how horrible”

Shiela is the only character who demonstrates genuine motion towards Eva’s suicide. Dash indicates authentic displeasure

“I felt rotten about it at the time”

Informal adjective shows her lack of maturity in vocabulary. However, she shows remorse for her actions immediately.

“I’ll never do it to anybody ever again”

Shows her commitment to changing her attitude towards social responsibility

“It’s you two who are being childish- trying not to face the facts”

Shows her growth as a character. Now her parents are the immature ones and she can stand her ground on what she thinks is right. She finally recognises her parents faults

“(A pretty girl in her early twenties)”

She feels the most guilt for the death of Eva as she is the most like her

“But these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people!”

She is a proxy for the Inspector when he leaves. She objects to her fathers dehumanising and capitalist approach to business

“You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.”

A dramatic shift in personality. Her calm returning of the ring shows that she is no longer governed by her emotions but instead by reasoning

“Mummy look isn’t it a beauty?”

Childish. She cannot form her own opinions. Also the fact that she feels more proud of the ring than her fiancee shows that she is shallow and materialistic.

“Now I really feel engaged”

Her obsession with material objects is demonstrated when she needs the physical token of a ring. This ring is a visual marker of Gerald’s ownership and commitment to the relationship

“You don’t seem to have learnt anything”

Shiela acknowledges the purpose of the Inspectors inquiry- a moral teaching. Priestley does this to portray the older generation as stubborn and opposed to changing their stance on responsibility

“You’re squiffy”

The colloquial language presents her as young and immature but contrastingly, she is the only one to notice and acknowledge Eric’s drinking problem