An Inspector Calls- GCSE revision guide

Sheila Birling- Summary and Key Points

Sheila Birling is the daughter of Sybil and Arthur Birling, and is sister to Eric Birling. At the start of the play, she is celebrating her engagement to Gerald Croft. At the start of the play, she is seen as quite a naive girl, who doesn't really understand how the world works. She is very excited about her marriage to Gerald, but breaks it off once she knows about his affair with Eva/Daisy Renton. Sheila shows the most sympathy out of all the characters once she hears the news of Eva Smiths suicide. Of all the characters in the play, Sheila is the one who changes the most. She starts off like her parents, capitalist views and a tendency to use her social status to her advantage - as seen when she gets Eva fired - but throughout the play, and after the Inspector leaves, she is the one who realises that they should treat everyone equally, and gains more communist views like the Inspector. It is implied that any the end of the play, Sheila takes the place of the Inspector, trying to make her parents see why their behaviour to the lower class was wrong.
Sheila is the second character to meet Eva Smith, in a dress shop with her mother- Milwards. Sheila is sick of her mother being in charge of her, so tries to make her own decision about a dress. The dress that she chooses, the manager who is helping her doesn't think it looks good. Sheila realises this and also angrily realises that her mother was right, she isn't good at choosing things for herself. Sheila's anger is multiplied when she sees Eva smiling at her in the mirror, thinking that Eva is laughing about how the dress looks on Sheila. This causes Sheila to get extremely upset with Eva ( also because later in the play, she says how Eva was a 'pretty little thing' who looked like 'she could take care of herself') and makes Sheila feel inadequate to Eva. Sheila then proceeds to angrily complain to the manager about how Eva was laughing, and that she should be fired. The manager is reluctant at first, but complied once Sheila uses her status as the daughter of Arthur Birling, very high up businessman. This leaves Eva out of a job because of Sheila, but Sheila mentions that she felt rotten as soon as she did. This shows that Sheila is one of the only characters to really have a conscience, and feel immediate guilt over how she treated Eva Smith.

Key points about Sheila Birling:

'Oh- how horrible! Was it an accident?' - This shows Sheila's naivety at the young woman's suicide, thinking that someone can swallow bleach without realising. It also shows Sheila's empathy for a girl, that at that point she hadn't known, and reveals her sensitive side. It is also the beginning of Sheila finding out that the world isn't as perfect as she imagined.

'I wouldn't miss it for worlds'- Shows Sheila's bitterness at Gerald for sneaking around with Eva behind her back, also shows that she is a curious soul who needs to know the truth about everything.

'I had her turned out of a job.'- Sheila is mature enough to acknowledge as confront her bad behaviour to Eva Smith, and accepts her part of responsibility for what she has done.

'It's you two who are being childish- trying not to face the facts'- Sheila isn't as concerned as her parents over whether or not the Inspector was a fake, she believes that the most important part was that they had all driven a girl to death. It also shows how she can recognise her parents faults and capitalistic views that they fail to see in themselves.