Sheila's Role In An Inspector Calls

Priestley, in his 1945 didactic diatribe ‘An Inspector Calls’ uses the Birling family as a construct in order to promote his anti-war, socialist and feminist agenda and in so catalyse change among hierarchical capitalistic society. He utilises the theme of guilt to evoke a sense of social responsibility into his audience and spark a cultural epiphany in which society realises that they are members of ‘one body’, and that factors that affect one unit, affect all others.

Sheila Birling is arguably used as a tool by Priestly to represent the refuge he saw in the younger, ‘more impressionable’ population. Sheila ultimately embodies the deadly sin of vanity. She expresses her love for materialistic items such as ‘rings’, and is ‘rather excited’

She breaches her role as a submissive woman in the patriarchy by attacking her fathers belief, uttering ‘ But these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people’. The collective noun ‘girls’ expresses her compassion for the workers, who, like her, are trapped in patriarchal society, and after her interrogation mutters that she feels ‘rotten’ by her mistreatment of Eva smith, and admitted that ‘it was [her] own fault’. Her accepting responsibility is what sets her aside from the rest of the birlings. Her feelings of true guilt demonstrate her ability to evaluate her behavior and accept her role that paid part in the ‘chain of events’ that led to Evas destitution and subsequently her suicide. However, Priestley uses Sheila as a subliminal message to evoke guilt and to spark a wider realisation into his audience, that despite Sheila taking accountability, her lessons and feelings of guilt are ultimately useless in 1912 society, where women didn't have the vote. Her role in society is as a commodification used by the

However, he, as an upper class gentleman, also represents the ‘chain of events’ that powers the cycle of the patriarchy. The first introduction of Eric is portrayed to be ‘half-shy, half- assertive’, the fragmented and undefined description highlights Eric's liminal nature and defines his unawareness of his role in society. Later the audience learns that he is ‘squiffy’. The colloquialism demonstrates his upper class position, but also is used by Priestley as a wider message to his audience. He questions his fathers inhumane work ethic, rejects Geralds jeers and responds ‘ why shouldn’t they try for higher wages…we try for the highest possible prices’. This inaudible message implies that Eric is aware of the illegal cartel his father, and soon to be brother in law, are creating, and reveals his trivial and compassionate nature when considering the humanity of the lower classes. Additionally, he gasps automatically ‘my god’, labelling him as a more emotional or to Edwardian society a hysterical (meaning wandering ‘womb’) male. Despite this, he is still despicablely unaware of his own wrongdoings and mistreatment of Eva Smith. He refers to his abhorrent behaviour as ‘when a chap easily turns nasty’, the impersonal noun chap details not taking responsibility for his behaviour and expresses his lack of remorse. To compound this, his lack of awareness of the severity of his act of stealth in