Sheila Birling An Inspector Calls With Quotes

Sheila Birling is the conscience of her family and feels true guilt for what she did. She symbolises the potential of the young generation to break from stereotypes and capitalism. Priestly uses her to convey some of his on views on the world and hopes to improve society if people took responsibility for their actions. She got Eva Smith fired from a dress shop because she was angry.

Act 1 - When we first see Sheila she is giddy, naïve and childish. The audience expects her to be much like her father and deny everything that she did. ‘I wish you hadn’t told me’ Sheila stands up against her families views of the lower class being below them and we realise she is much more modern in her opinions ‘those girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people’ Unlike her father, Sheila feels remorse and realises how awful she was so Eva Smith out of jealousy ‘I’ll never never do it again.

Act 2 - As act 2 starts, Sheila becomes more aware of the inspector and wonders how he knows exactly what shes thinking. ‘There’s something I don’t understand about you’ Sheila is the first to realise the inspector is there to admit their own mistakes rather than to punish them ‘so that we’ll hang ourselves’ Sheila is a different person she was at the start of the night and knows it, she recognises she is flawed and so is Gerald, but respects him for being honest like she was, ‘I rather respect you more than I’ve ever done before’

Act 3 - Unlike her parents, Sheila wont hide what she has done now she knows the inspector wasn’t a real police inspector. ‘It frightens me the way you talk’ Sheila tries to hold her family accountable for their mistakes, she has changed over the play. ‘I suppose were all nice people now’ She also shows the divide between the old and young generations ways of thinking, she has learnt from the inspector ‘It was anything but a joke