essay on change through the character of sheila

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In the play, an inspector calls, Sheila is a particularly important character; priestly uses her to voice his viewpoints in a way people relate to and to show that if she is capable of change, so is the audience.
In the beginning of the play, Sheila is presented in a way we would very much expect from an early 20th century girl in her position; this is done purposefully to communicate with the audience as many people would have related to her, priestly uses the role of Sheila to give the audience hope that their society can change if they accept responsibility. the play opens with the news of her engagement, this engagement shows the sexist views in the early 1900’s as we see Sheila ask Gerald ‘is it the one you wanted me to have’ it is extremely apparent she is viewed as less than the rest of the family and she has no say as to what ring she wanted, Gerald chose on her behalf. Priestley's portrayal of her naivety is conveyed through the stage direction ‘half playful, half serious’ this shows her parents have sheltered her from the outside world. However, the later part of this quotation gives the audience a subtle hint of what is to come in Sheila's characters active progression. Sheila is also perceived as being very immature she says ‘I’m sorry daddy, I actually was listening’ she is very quick to apologize, it is obvious she is keen to behave well. Furthermore, she refers to her father as ‘daddy’ this childish form of address accentuates her characters juvenile presentation. Priestly presents Sheila in this very youthful, excitable way to create a contrast with her character at the end of the play so the audience can see her drastic progression.
As the play progresses, it is clear that Sheila is a malleable character due to the remarkable changes in her personality. She assumes the role of conscience and constantly reminds her parents of their appalling contribution to the victim’s demise. She is anguished with the knowledge that her actions resulted in a tragic course for Eva and is committed to changing her ways in the future; at this point in the play, she reflects socialist and feminist viewpoints by standing on her own and deciding she will not adopt her parents thinking. Sheila shows her progression when she confronts Gerald about his affair, we inspect her to react in a childish manure due to her presentation at the beginning of the play, but in fact she is very mature responding with ‘in some odd way I rather respect you more than I ever have done before’ the audience admires Sheila's forgiveness in understanding that conflict isn’t always the answer. One of Sheila's most important quotes in the play is ‘but these girls aren’t cheap labor, they’re people’ she is explaining that working class female employees like Eva Smith are not just objects to be utilized for making money and profits, not just ‘cheap labor’, they deserve the right to respect and dignity. Priestly uses the character of Sheila to express his own viewpoints he wants the upper-class capitalists to stop viewing their workers purely as tools to make money but as people. Priestly continues to speak through Sheila ‘you must not try to build up a wall between us and that girl’ he Is addressing the rich asking them not to create a divide but to try to understand.
By the end of the play, Sheila is an emotionally effected, understanding character who priestly uses to voice his ideas, she has acquired more self-knowledge and developed a conscience. By the end, after the inspector has left, she continues to push his ideas and mirrors his language using ‘fire and blood and anguish’ Priestly uses this imbedded in a sequence of other phrases; this complex sentence is imposing how she is struggling to speak as she did before, this change in her language also highlights her change hugely to accentuate the message and role of her character. The use of quoting the inspectors tripling and listing of ‘fire and blood and anguish’ reinforces the message shows how the inspector has obviously affected her and she is trying to make sure her family do not forget him and carry on as they were. Ultimately, she seems terrified of what is to come but the audience is sure Sheila will go on to be a better person.

This is really really good. Great interpretations of the writer, judicious use of quotes which are subtly embedded. Fantastic links to context. I'm not really sure about your weaknesses though which is less helpful to you. I myself have an exam about the character of Sheila or Mrs Birling in a couple of days, but I can tell you that I am no where near writing as clearly as you have done and this is pretty high level work from the sophisticated language you have used.

thank you very much