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Character Analysis of Sheila in An Inspector Calls Essay

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Character Analysis of Sheila in An Inspector Calls

Sheila is unlike any other character in the play - she is far more conscientious and more sensitive than any of the others, and she does not express her opinion as frequently or forcefully as her parents.

When Sheila hears of the death of Eva Smith she is genuinely shocked by the news, and despite the fact that she does not know her, she is still upset. We can see this from what she says when she hears the news: "Oh - how horrible!". When the Inspector shows her a photograph of the girl she reacts much more dramatically than any of the others, which tells us that perhaps she had already realised that her behaviour towards the girl had been inappropriate and unnecessary, and …show more content…

Sheila demonstrates that she is ashamed of her actions and she is the only character to tell the Inspector the truth from the beginning.

Another noticeable aspect of Sheila's character is that she submits to the authority of the Inspector where no other character does, and she warns the others against trying to hide facts from him as she believes he already knows everything. In Act 2 Sheila encourages her mother to admit everything to the Inspector: "It means that we've no excuse now for putting on airs and that if we've any sense we wont try", and "And now you're pretending not to recognise [Eva Smith] from that photograph. I admit I don't know why you should, but I know jolly well you did in fact recognise her, from the way you looked. And if you're not telling the truth, why should the Inspector apologise? And can't you see, both of you, you're making it worse?". From these quotes we can see that Sheila is in favour of getting all the facts out in the open to avoid any surprises later, and she even goes so far as to scold her parents for 'putting on airs' in order to intimidate the
Inspector.

In the final act, once it

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