In this essay, I will be exploring how Priestly develops the character of Sheila throughout the play in ‘An Inspector Calls’
In the beginning of the play, Sheila is presented to be happy with her current lifestyle. In order to reflect the calm, relaxing atmosphere to celebrate her engagement, the stage directions state that the lighting should be ‘pink’ and ‘intimate’. However, as the inspector arrives, the lighting changes to something that is ‘brighter and harder’, which ruins Sheila’s engagement party as the inspector announces the news of the death. Before Sheila knew of her own involvement in the death, she says ‘I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh I wish you hadn’t told me’. Although this can show that Sheila was concerned and may have been shocked by the sudden news, at the same time the audience learns that Sheila is more concerned that her mood has been ruined and this makes her come across as very selfish and self-centred.
In the play, Sheila is the character who changes the most. This is because she shows a greater degree of responsibility for the death as opposed to her parents. Priestly presents Sheila to be a very shallow, materialistic young woman. She is described in the stage directions to be a ‘very pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited’, telling us that she is well looked after with her affluent background and is very content. It is easily seen that she is materialistic when Gerald gives her the engagement ring, which she responds by saying’ now I really feel engaged’. This is suggesting that before she had received the ring, she had not actually felt engaged, and that materialistic products, such as an expensive ring, is what marriage is about for her. She uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ many times, emphasising to the audience exactly how self-centred she is and having the pleasures of life, has left her with little concern for the world outside her social circle. Also, when questioning the inspector on Eva,...