Sheila
Key quotes
“What do you mean by saying that? You
talk as if we were responsible - ”
“[miserably] So I’m responsible?”
“These girls ain’t cheap labour, they’re
people”
“Now I really feel engaged”
“[with mock aggressiveness]”
“Fire, blood and anguish”
“It frightens me the way you talk”
“Mommy”
“mother”
“[urgently cutting in] mother please don’t”
“No, he’s giving us the rope - so that we will
hang ourselves”
Annotations & Key notes
Sheila’s response shows how unaware she is of how
things work in the real world. Her limited
understanding of the world is shown through the
question she asked, where the audience can infer
that the line of questioning that the inspector had,
startled Sheila. The second sentence, is where Sheila
ignorantly assumes that she bears no responsibility,
and to a certain extent if we analyse deeper, this
reaction of hers puts an emphasis on how upper
class children like her are raised in to have a rose
tainted worldview; where actions don’t have
consequences which make you responsible.
The stage directions showcase the reaction of Sheila
the moment she realises her fault. This prompts the
audience that Sheila is having a moral epiphany and
Priestley purposely uses her as the changing variable
of the play, where her old, arrogant and narcissistic
persona is challenged by the Inspector’s worldview
and she metamorphosizes to an empowering
independent character in the play.
The quote is symbolic of Sheila’s character. The
adjective “cheap” is what capitalists want to refer to
their workforce, and very often it also has
connotations of worthlessness, to the audience
Arthur Birling

“Lower costs higher prices”

“I can’t accept any responsibility”

“Unsinkable absolutely unsinkable”

“Germans don’t want war”

“Make ‘em look prettier”

“[Heavy - looking]”

“Hard headed business man”

“Afterall I don’t often make speeches at you”

“It’s one of the happies nights of my life”

“It’s my duty to keep labour costs down”

Sybil Birling

“[Her husband's social superior]”

“Cold women”

“Girls of that class”

“But i accept no blame”

“I’ve done nothing wrong”

“I’m very sorry. But i think she had only

herself to blame”

“I had done my duty”

Eric Birling

“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages”

“You’re not the kind of father a chap would

go to”

“I couldn’t remember her name ”

“I insisted on giving her enough money to

keep her going”
Gerald Croft

“Man about town”

“Everything is alright now sheila. [Holds up

the ring]”

“I don’t come into this suicide business”

Inspector Goole

“We don’t live alone. We are members of

one body”

“We are responsible for each other”

“Millions of Eva and John smiths”

“Their hopes, fears, their suffering”

“Chain of events”

“A young girl died tonight”

“But you’re partly to blame”

“You used the power you had… to punish

the girl”

“It’s too late”

“They’re more impressionable”

“[Cutting in with authority]”

“I’m waiting… to do my duty”

● In inspector calls every character is somehow representative of a section in society.
● The Inspector had a physical impact on the environment, where the lighting changed
from “pink and intimate” to “brighter and harder”. The “pink and intimate” lighting can
 be seen as indicative of the overly optimistic ‘rose tinted glasses’ through which the
Birlings view their middle class privilege from. Whereas the Inspectors light brings
with him a harder sort of light - a spotlight of interrogation, through which the truth is
illuminated.
● Something that should be noticed is that it is Edna that changes the lighting and
brings the Inspector into the room. This hints to the idea that perhaps it's the working
class that is going to deliver the truth to the upper class.
● This is seen throughout the play, where the life of Eva Smith is used to challenge the
Birlings and Gerlad to face consequences to their actions.
● The mannerism by which Mr Birling speaks to Edna showcases how there is no
attempt in politeness towards her. This is shown when he orders her to “Show him in
here” and “Give us some more light”. The imperatives “show” and “give” are
examples of how Mr Birling expects Edna to unhesitatingly obey his commands, and
exposes the harsh expectations working class women were subjected to by the
upper-middle class.
● In 1912 it was more common to have maids than in 1945. To the audience the
presence of Edna on stage is a bit old fashioned. However, Priestley purposefully
including a working class maid in his play, is significant to the audience of how
outdated is the practice of employing lower class people on a very dismal wage for
long hours, to complete tasks they can easily get done.
● The mistreatment of the working in the play is deliberately shown, to further alienate
the Birlings, presenting them as people whose views and attitudes you wouldn’t wish
to replicate or repeat.
● Edna’s silence can be interpreted as symbolic of the lack of agency that the working
poor had.

● The Inspector’s role is to bring the message of social responsibility to the Birlings
family. At the same time he is also Priestley’s mouthpiece to transmit socialist values
and counter dangerous capitalist attitudes.
● Priestley cleverly uses various methods to expose the shared guilt of the Birling
family. One of these methods is the inversion of generic expectations. The play “an
inspector calls” is a work of detective fiction and Inspector Goole is the intelligent
detective who will solve the case. However, whilst a traditional detective fiction
focuses on the narrowing down from a list of numerous suspects to just one, the
Inspector does the opposite and shows that not one, but all are responsible for the
death of Eva Smith, or as he puts it to the Birling family shortly before his exit “each
of you helped to kill her”. Priestley masterfully does this to present the key message
of the play that “we are all members of one body and we are all responsible for each
other”.
● The purpose of the Inspector’s intervention to the audience is for Priestley to evoke a
call for a social and political shift which took Britain forward to a society based on
equality and community after the events of WW2.
● One of the most significant moments to exemplify the inspector’s message of join
responsibility can be shown when he says “Because what happened to her then may
have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her
 afterwards may have driver her to suicide.”, soon after his entrance, the audience
starts to realise that the inspector’s investigation focuses on the surprising links
between different events and people. The playwright initiates this idea of connections
through anadiplosis; by repeating “what happened to her afterwards” at the end of
one clause and the beginning of the next, the sentence structure itself cleverly
emphasises how the content of these statements is inextricably connected and leads
on from one another.
● The descriptions of the Inspector are vague and ambiguous, where Priestley
deliberately presents him as a mysterious character. This is shown throughout the
play where the playwright purposefully doesn’t tell much about the Inspector to the
audience. Even the Inspector’s dialogue reveals often what he is not rather than what
he is, like when he says “I don’t play golf” or “i never take offence”. This is done so
that the audience can focus less on the character of the Inspector and more on the
message he brings on.
● This point is further reinforced by his own name “Goole” which sounds like “Ghul”,
which has connotations to a spirit or ghost. Ironically enough, it can be argued that
the Inspector does hunt the Birlings and Gerald about their role in Eva’s death.
● Priestley enhances his message through the use of supernatural imagery in the
Inspector’s final words “fire blood and anguish”.

● Port in the play is a prop of high importance, as it is symbolic of wealth as the price
alone would have been prohibitive and therefore out of reach from the working class.
● Flawed mislead and pompous
● “A man has to look his own way - he needs to look for himself”
● Capitalist: a system where business is privately owned for the sole purpose of profit.
● “Ill informed and ridiculous”
● Devalue his views
● Everything he stands for is wrong
● Ends the play the same way he started the play
● Old vs young

● Negative depiction of Mrs Birling as bossy and controlling

● “Her husband’s social superior”
● controlling : “Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things”, “Now, Sheila, don’t
tease him”, “Now stop it you two.”
● “Leave you men”
● Upper class complacency when it comes to law
● Name-dropping, to use connections to avoid prosecution → corruption
● Above the law
● Dramatic device to build tension
● Callous
● Egocentric, when they themselves have an easy life.
● 1912 no nhs, so poor people relied on charity - expose the fallible system

● Challenge views about gender

● Immature materialistic character → sheila
● Mummy → mother
● Not treated as an equal by anyone
● Male dominated society
● Dramatic shift in her personality
● Fiery indignation
● Woman who is governed by her emotions – after
● Sheila’s metamorphosis = role model
● Contract young vs old
● The new inspector

● Aristocracy and flaws of upper class

● Exploitation working class
● Upper class will always be self interested
● “Easy well-bred young men about town”
● Immature and thoughtless → privileged, elite class
● “I don’t come in this suicide business” - cold hearted, unexpected, superior
● “She didn't blame at all, i wish to god she had now” - genuine remorse, and sympathy
● Avoid public scandal

● Eva → lack of power and voice

● Eva smith common name
● Biblical reference to eve
● Symbolises all women
● “There are millions and millions and millions of eva smith” not feel sorry about 1
women but all women
● Daisy Renton - flower, cheap and pretty.
● Renton - rent (rents her body), large tear
● Double standards
● Pregnant outside of marriage
● “animal , a thing, not a person”
● “One Eva Smith is gone, but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva
Smiths and John Smiths still left with us.”