Sheila Birling
Profile
\ Full name: Miss Sheila Birling
Age: ‘early twenties’
Role: Birling’s daughter
Ideology: Mild capitalist → socialist
\ Other Key Facts:
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- 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
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Characteristics
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- Selfish
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‘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
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- Childish
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‘Mummy’
‘squiffy’
‘very pleased with life and rather excited’
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‘half serious, half playful’
- Her childishness might be a way to hide serious concerns about her relationship with Gerald
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- Moral
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‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people’
‘if I could help her now, I would’
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Maturity
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- 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’
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Eva and Sheila
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- 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
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