The Importance of Sheila's Role in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

Birlings' house. He is said to "need not be a big man but he creates

see that this is true by looking at his speech and at the manner in

Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself.

The play "An Inspector Calls" was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, when the British people were recovering from over six years of constant warfare and danger. As a result of two world wars, class distinctions were greatly reduced and women had achieved a much higher place in society. It was due to this and a great desire for social change that Labour's Clement Attlee won a landslide victory over the conservative Winston Churchill. He nationalized the gas steel and electrical industries, established the NHS and introduced the Welfare State. The play was set in Brumley, a fictional industrial city, in 1912.The playwright believed passionately in the left wing perspective and his message is overtly political. He uses techniques such as

he a question he will now answer it, he will just ask a question back.

There are a number of suspects which in an inspector calls is the entire family on set. There are also red herrings and anticipations. The red herrings are created by the way the inspector conducts his interview. The inspector only focuses on one character at a time, starting with Mr. Birling. It appears early in the play that Mr. Birling is a major contributor to Eva smiths death, but then the inspector turns onto the next character Sheila. The interrogation of Sheila leads us to think that Sheila is now a major contributor towards the death of Eva Smith. Sheila's character turns out to be very different to that of her father who is very defensive and more worried about the bad reputation that this could cause the family, where as Sheila throughout the play starts to discover a moral and ethical side of herself. An example of this is in act two where Sheila says "It means that we've no excuse now for putting on airs and that if we've any sense we wont try. Father threw this girl out because she asked for decent wages. I went and pushed her further out, right into the street, just because I was angry and she was pretty. Gerald set her up as his mistress and then dropped her when it suited him. And now you're pretending you don’t recognize her from that photograph I admit I don’t know why you should, but I know jolly well you did in fact recognize her from the way you

command at the end of Act I and the start of Act 2, and the end of Act

In the play An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley introduces Sheila as “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.” The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Birling, this seemingly naÏve young woman quickly develops to take a whole new political stance to her family’s conservatism. Her contributions to conversations were minimal at the start of the play, and her behaviour came across as juvenile instantly. We see her attitude change throughout the play though, as when faced with a serious issue, she becomes much more clear-headed and mature. Admittedly, Sheila does run off - demonstrating her childlike responses - upon first hearing of Eva Smith’s suicide, however, when she returns she has the most righteous morals of

A number of other issues that were around at the time the play was set

The Dramatic Methods Used by Priestley to Convey the Social and Moral Message of An Inspector Calls

J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B. Priestley is set in an industrial city, Brymley in 1912, just before the First World War. The Inspector's dealings with the Birling family cause some of the characters in the play to re-evaluate their position in society, whilst others remain unaffected. J.B.Priestley criticises middle class oppression of the working class by showing how the Birlings and Gerald Croft are involved in making a young working class girl's life a misery. Act one begins by introducing the characters and presents a seemingly happy united family looking forward to the future with a degree of confidence. Arthur Birling is having an enjoyable celebration

Sheila is portrayed as a beautiful young lady in her early twenties with a rather selfish and arrogant nature. Using her compelling personality she is able to obtain anything in which she desires through her father. She makes inconsequential remarks and speaks in a childish manner. However she is the only one to accept immediate responsibility for her role in Eva Smith’s death, making her most probably the furthermost sympathetic character throughout the play. She is horrified by her own part in Eva's death; she feels full of guilt for her jealous actions and blames herself and she is genuinely remorseful for her actions. She is very perceptive towards the inspector, first to wonder who he really is, realising he already knows much of what

For instance, it is as if he is waiting for everyone to confess to his

is least to blame out of the 5, he bought a little enjoyment into her

this is his role in the events of the play. This, and the fact that