Sheila Birling
Profile
Full name: Miss Sheila Birling
Age: ‘early twenties’
Role: Birling’s daughter
Ideology: Mild capitalist → socialist
Other Key Facts:
- Sheila accepts responsibility and feels the most guilty
- Changes her ideology and the way she approaches life
- Goes from being childish and petty to thoughtful and sensitive
Characteristics
- Selfish
‘I told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near the place again and I’d persuade mother to close our account with them’
Uses her power to punish Eva
Childish
‘Mummy’
‘squiffy’
‘very pleased with life and rather excited’
‘half serious, half playful’
Her childishness might be a way to hide serious concerns about her relationship with Gerald
Moral
‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people’
‘if I could help her now, I would’
Maturity
- Has wise instincts - sees what the Inspector is doing and knows that Gerald’s absence is suspicious
- Knows that men use prostitutes
- The Inspector says that she ‘isn’t living on the moon’
Eva and Sheila
- Sheila is supposed to juxtapose Eva
- Eva is who Sheila would’ve been if she wasn’t born wealthy
They are both similar:
- Similar ages
- Both young girls
- Both equally as intelligent and sharp