awsomlycute
04-11-2013, 09:47 PM
Ok so i have to write an essay on the theater play 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B Priestley for English and the question i picked was ''how does Priestley present the change of Sheila Birling throughout the play?''
I know its long but if someone could read this and give me some peermark or feedback it would be appreciated! :Thumbs-Up:
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In the play An Inspector Calls J.B Priestley uses Sheila to show his own ideas about how times are changing. The class systems that are in place the time the play is set affect the society the Birling’s live in and overall how they feel they are not responsible for the lower class, and almost seem to forget they are actual people. As the play was written in 1945, we know that Britain will go through social change, for example the 2 World Wars that we know are going to happen will make the hierarchy less defined, and women will earn more valued places in society. At the end of the play we see Sheila changes her views to show the audience that everyone has some part in the lives of others and that we are all connected.
Before the Inspector arrives at the house Sheila at the start portrays a stereotypical middle class woman who is ‘’pleased with life and rather excited’’ this is rather understandable as she is soon going to be married to Gerald Croft and is throwing her engagement party. She might be seen as spoilt, superficial and somewhat immature, an example of this is when she refers to Eric as being ‘squiffy’ which is a rather slang term and not something you would expect a lady of high class to say. The fact she uses such terms suggests she putting on a façade of having such a high social status. This makes sense due to the fact her father, Arthur Birling is happy that Sheila is marrying someone that is above her to help raise their own social status. Furthermore, she doesn’t realise that she is saying it in front of her fiancé, which shows at this point she has very little consciousness for her actions and does not seem to care what she is saying. You can tell that her family are displeased with this remark, as Mrs.Birling replies with ‘’what an expression, really the things you girls pick up these days!’’ This shows that her parents are trying to model her into what they think women of Sheila’s class should behave, so that she will fit in with what society expects of her. As women were seen as less important that men, Mrs.Birling wants Sheila to follow what society wants and her to stay at home. However, J.B Priestley and the audience both know that women will be seen in the future as more important members of society, we know this because they will eventually get the vote and also started doing work in factories during the war.
When Sheila hears the part her farther played in what happened she immediately shows some compassion and upset about the death of Eva Smith, an example of this would be when she says ‘’But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people’’ although she has probably never thought of the lower classes before, you can see that unlike Arthur Birling who seems blinded and does not realise how his actions have helped cause her suicide, Sheila is concerned and shows even before we get to her part in the story that she wants to change. At the beginning of the story she doesn’t show any respect for the working class but after hearing how her father sacked Eva it doesn’t take long for her to be concerned, although at this point the rest of the characters still do not see any links on how Eva being fired and her suicide are connected. When the Inspector first mentions the sacking of Eva, Sheila’s first response is ‘’I think it was a mean thing to do. Perhaps that spoilt everything for her’’ this suggests that Sheila does not agree with the morals of her parents and already early into the play we can see signs that she feels a lack of equality between the higher and working classes, and doesn’t like it. She agrees with the Inspector and accuses her fathers actions of being mean, but this becomes rather hypocritical later on after we discover Sheila got Eva fired from Milwards shop because she has a underlying feeling of jealousy towards her. Ultimately, at the start she thinks that her father is the reason for the suicide as she hints that probably ruined everything from that point forwards.
I know its long but if someone could read this and give me some peermark or feedback it would be appreciated! :Thumbs-Up:
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In the play An Inspector Calls J.B Priestley uses Sheila to show his own ideas about how times are changing. The class systems that are in place the time the play is set affect the society the Birling’s live in and overall how they feel they are not responsible for the lower class, and almost seem to forget they are actual people. As the play was written in 1945, we know that Britain will go through social change, for example the 2 World Wars that we know are going to happen will make the hierarchy less defined, and women will earn more valued places in society. At the end of the play we see Sheila changes her views to show the audience that everyone has some part in the lives of others and that we are all connected.
Before the Inspector arrives at the house Sheila at the start portrays a stereotypical middle class woman who is ‘’pleased with life and rather excited’’ this is rather understandable as she is soon going to be married to Gerald Croft and is throwing her engagement party. She might be seen as spoilt, superficial and somewhat immature, an example of this is when she refers to Eric as being ‘squiffy’ which is a rather slang term and not something you would expect a lady of high class to say. The fact she uses such terms suggests she putting on a façade of having such a high social status. This makes sense due to the fact her father, Arthur Birling is happy that Sheila is marrying someone that is above her to help raise their own social status. Furthermore, she doesn’t realise that she is saying it in front of her fiancé, which shows at this point she has very little consciousness for her actions and does not seem to care what she is saying. You can tell that her family are displeased with this remark, as Mrs.Birling replies with ‘’what an expression, really the things you girls pick up these days!’’ This shows that her parents are trying to model her into what they think women of Sheila’s class should behave, so that she will fit in with what society expects of her. As women were seen as less important that men, Mrs.Birling wants Sheila to follow what society wants and her to stay at home. However, J.B Priestley and the audience both know that women will be seen in the future as more important members of society, we know this because they will eventually get the vote and also started doing work in factories during the war.
When Sheila hears the part her farther played in what happened she immediately shows some compassion and upset about the death of Eva Smith, an example of this would be when she says ‘’But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people’’ although she has probably never thought of the lower classes before, you can see that unlike Arthur Birling who seems blinded and does not realise how his actions have helped cause her suicide, Sheila is concerned and shows even before we get to her part in the story that she wants to change. At the beginning of the story she doesn’t show any respect for the working class but after hearing how her father sacked Eva it doesn’t take long for her to be concerned, although at this point the rest of the characters still do not see any links on how Eva being fired and her suicide are connected. When the Inspector first mentions the sacking of Eva, Sheila’s first response is ‘’I think it was a mean thing to do. Perhaps that spoilt everything for her’’ this suggests that Sheila does not agree with the morals of her parents and already early into the play we can see signs that she feels a lack of equality between the higher and working classes, and doesn’t like it. She agrees with the Inspector and accuses her fathers actions of being mean, but this becomes rather hypocritical later on after we discover Sheila got Eva fired from Milwards shop because she has a underlying feeling of jealousy towards her. Ultimately, at the start she thinks that her father is the reason for the suicide as she hints that probably ruined everything from that point forwards.