Sheila As A Dynamic Character Of Eva In An Inspector Calls

n ‘An Inspector Calls’, J.B Priestley uses the lack of moral and social responsibility in the Birling family to highlight the contrast between an upper-class family in 1912, the time where the play was set, and an upper class family in 1945, when it was first performed. Society had further developed since 1912 with the upper class and lower class now having a much more equal say in general due to England becoming a socialist country. J.B Priestley was born and grew up into a middle-class family in 1894 and the play would have most likely been written from Priestley’s personal struggles in the 1910s with the upper class’s capitalist mindset. Priestley was an advocate of socialism, and his views are presented towards the end of the play through

Sheila develops from being a very immature, childish character to becoming one of the most understanding and sophisticated. This is supported by Sheila continuously interrupting her parents and referring to them as ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ throughout the start of the play. In comparison, at the end of Act 1, Sheila acts much more mature and becomes one of the more intelligent characters within the play. Sheila responds to Mr Birling who is talking about how firing Eva Smith was reasonable by saying ‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people’. The use of the metaphor ‘cheap labour’ is effective in conveying how Sheila can’t believe that Mr Birling was almost dehumanising lower-class women. The noun labour also has connotations of physical work and pain for Eva Smith. Later in the play, Sheila finds out she too is responsible. Sheila feels instant remorse about the death of Eva Smith. This is due to Sheila being most comparable to Eva Smith who was a pretty, young woman like Sheila. This is also supported by the fact that Sheila accepts her part and doesn’t deny her part in the chain of events like Mr and Mrs Birling do - “(rather distressed) I can’t help thinking about this girl- destroying herself so horribly- and I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh I wish you hadn’t told me.” Priestley uses the repetition of the first-person pronoun ‘I’ which could

The Inspector allows J.B Priestley’s to express his strong socialist views throughout An Inspector Calls to the audience who in the 1940s would have most likely been capitalist. At the beginning of the play, The Inspector is introduced as being dressed in a ‘plain darkish suit’, this is quite a vague description which is done by J.B Priestley to emphasise Inspector Goole’s socialist views and how his point is more important than his looks in the play. This is in direct contrast to Sheila whose looks are highly focused on throughout the play. This conveys the different focuses between generations and how a younger generation would focus more on their looks. J.B Priestley reinforces this by describing his physical appearance as, ‘need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness’. The juxtaposing adjectives of him not being big and massiveness help emphasise that his appearance is not so important and more his message. We can see this with Sheila and Eric’s character development throughout the play, transitioning from quite immature characters to the only two characters who take responsibility for their actions. This highlights the effect an older generation has on a younger generation, even today in the modern era the older generation would be seen as role models to the younger generation. Later on in the