Sheila Birling Changes

An Inspector Calls is a definitive play written by J.B Priestley. It explores the many themes that wove through society before the first world war, such lack of social responsibility, social disparity between different classes and the gap of understanding and contemplating between the two dissimilar generations – the young and the old. In this essay, I will be exploring the character Sheila Birling and how and why does she change in the play, in response to the Inspector and to her family.
At the beginning of the play, Sheila is introduced as ‘a pretty girl in her early twenties, rather pleased with life’. These stage directions immediately introduce a young girl, with a very naïve nature to life and unaware of the reality of it. However, a slight hint of change, is present amongst the effusive naïve character of Sheila. When Sheila states ‘except all last summer, when you never came near me’ there is a subtle insinuation of hurt and anger.
At the end of the play, it is clear that Sheila has matured and take more authority from away from her parents. When the family learns that the Inspector wasn’t isn’t real Sheila says to her parents ‘You knew it them. You began to learn something. And now you’ve stopped.’ Priestley’s use of tripling highlights Sheila’s strong desire for change and her determination to persuade her parents to change their ideologies and spread the Inspector’s views. Furthermore, the use of the personal pronoun ‘you’ demonstrates how Sheila evidently distances herself away from her parents, insinuating her desire for a lack of association with them. She realises she doesn’t want to be influenced by their views as she knows they are wrong, therefore highlighting the contrast between Sheila and her parent’s attitudes as well as Priestley’s desire for the younger generation to understand what is wrong and actively change to make it