Sheila Birling Character notes

SHEILA BIRLING

“Sheila Birling is engaged to be married to Gerald Croft. She is the daughter of Arthur Birling and Sybil Birling, and sister of Eric Birling. J. B. Priestley describes her as "a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited," which is precisely how she comes across in the first act of the play. In the second and third acts, following the realisation that she has played a part in Eva Smith's death, she matures and comes to realise the importance of The Inspector's message.”- www.oxnotes.com

“a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”

-Naïve/childish: She calls her mother “mummy” and uses words like “squiffy” and “jolly-well”.

-Perceptive: Despite her naivety, Sheila is also very perceptive. Even though Gerald constantly reassures her that he “was awfully busy at the works”, she is still suspicious about where he was “all last summer when (he) never came near” her and the stage directions describe how she spoke in a “half playful, half serious tone”. She is particularly perceptive about the Inspector’s role and the “chain of events” that led to Eva’s suicide. Soon after she finds out about the suicide, the stage directions describe that Sheila says “wonderingly” to the Inspector: “you talk as if we were responsible”. She realises that Gerald knew Daisy Renton from his “startled” reaction the moment the Inspector mentioned her name and is the first to realise Eric’s part in Eva’s suicide at the end of Act 2: when her mother is talking about how the father is to blame, Sheila says “mother- stop – stop!” and speaks “with sudden alarm” showing she has realised that the father of this baby is her own brother. She makes several comments about how much the Inspector knows, for example after Gerald says “we can keep it from him” (about his part in Eva’s suicide) , Sheila says “why- you  fool- he knows… and I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet” and warns the others: “He’s giving us the rope- so that we’ll hang ourselves.” She realises that each member of the family has playing a part in Eva’s suicide, saying “probably between us we killed her”. When her mother replies: “Sheila, don’t talk nonsense”, she says “You wait, Mother”. Near the end, Sheila is the first to consider the authenticity of the Inspector, saying “it’s very queer… it doesn’t matter much now, of course- but was he really a police inspector?” In this way, Sheila is used as a dramatic device to reveal information about the Inspector. Her perceptiveness leads to increased dramatic tension and foreshadowing in the play.

-Superficial: Sheila’s reaction to the wedding ring symbolises she needs something expensive to prove anything, even her engagement: “now I really feel engaged”. She asks if Eva is “pretty?” Her superficial nature links to her selfish, jealous nature about the dress with Eva, saying that Eva was “a very pretty girl…