Birling sheila inspector mr play eva father daughter

Text	The Inspector and Sheila At this point in the play Sheila re-emerges interrupting the Inspector’s interrogation of Mr Birling. The exchange between Sheila and her father is significant: ‘What’s all this about?’ // ‘Nothing to do with you, Sheila. Run along.’. The belittling way in which Birling speaks to his daughter betrays the patriarchal nature of Edwardian society. In the same way that Mrs Birling spoke of leaving men to do man’s business so too does Mr Birling seek to exclude his daughter from this conversation. Notice also the phrase ‘Run along’. Firstly, the fact that it is an imperative and also the use of the short, snappy syntax reinforces that, as far as Mr Birling is concerned, what he says is absolute. Secondly, it is something that would usually be said to a child thus highlighting Birling’s view of Sheila. Throughout these initial exchanges Sheila grows in confidence and ultimately challenges the prejudices of her father: ‘But these girl’s aren’t cheap labour – they’re people’. Clearly, this isn’t a distinction that Birling understands. Shelia’s denouncement of her father engages with one of the main themes of the play: the young generation are the ones most susceptible to change. This motif will be continued and developed as the play progresses. Despite Sheila’s apparent integrity it quickly becomes apparent that she also played a role in Eva’s downfall, and upon discovering this, so the stage directions tell us, ‘she gives a high-stifled sob, and then runs out’. Just like her father Sheila abdicates her responsibility: rather than facing her accuser she instead runs away. However, significantly, she does return, ultimately fully accepting responsibility for her actions and pledging never to repeat them. Whilst she has gone there is a particularly illuminating exchange between Birling and the Inspector. Birling comments: ‘We were having a nice little family celebration tonight. And a nasty little mess you’ve made of it now, haven’t you?’. The Inspector then responds: ‘That’s more or less what I was thinking earlier tonight, when I was in the Infirmary looking at what was left of Eva Smith. A nice little promising life there, I thought, and a nasty mess somebody’s made of it’ . The juxtaposition between these two comments and the repetition of key phrases serves to highlight the disparity between Birling and the Inspector and by extension they values they represent: what matters most to Birling is his celebration, but what matters most to the Inspector is the life of Eva. Birling is brutally insular whilst the Inspector is compassionately communal. Upon her return the audience discovers the role that Sheila played more exactly. Whilst shopping at Milward’s she tried on a dress and caught Eva smirking at her believing that she was mocking her and because Eva was beautiful Sheila became jealous and requested that she be fired, which she was. This perhaps tells us something about how the upper class control the working class: both Mr Birling and his daughter are in a position to have Eva fired and they wield this influence to disastrous effect. This further highlights just how dependent people are on their jobs and as such the need for strict laws surrounding the work place, which Attlee’s Labour government sought to implement. As the play continues, Sheila’s transformation and willingness to change her behaviour comes to represent and symbolise exactly the kind of change Priestley hopes his audience will make. Sheila, unlike Mr Birling, comes to represent the moral template which the audience ought to emulate; a change provoked by the Inspector within the world of the play and perhaps, one might imagine, by Priestley himself out of it

Text

The Inspector and Sheila

At this point in the play Sheila re-emerges interrupting the Inspector’s interrogation of Mr Birling.
The exchange between Sheila and her father is significant: ‘What’s all this about?’ // ‘Nothing to do with you, Sheila. Run along.’.
The belittling way in which Birling speaks to his daughter betrays the patriarchal nature of Edwardian society. In the same way that Mrs Birling spoke of leaving men to do man’s business so too does Mr Birling seek to exclude his daughter from this conversation.
Notice also the phrase ‘Run along’. Firstly, the fact that it is an imperative and also the use of the short, snappy syntax reinforces that, as far as Mr Birling is concerned, what he says is absolute. Secondly, it is something that would usually be said to a child thus highlighting Birling’s view of Sheila.
Throughout these initial exchanges Sheila grows in confidence and ultimately challenges the prejudices of her father: ‘But these girl’s aren’t cheap labour – they’re people’. Clearly, this isn’t a distinction that Birling understands.
Shelia’s denouncement of her father engages with one of the main themes of the play: the young generation are the ones most susceptible to change. This motif will be continued and developed as the play progresses.
Despite Sheila’s apparent integrity it quickly becomes apparent that she also played a role in Eva’s downfall, and upon discovering this, so the stage directions tell us, ‘she gives a high-stifled sob, and then runs out’.
Just like her father Sheila abdicates her responsibility: rather than facing her accuser she instead runs away. However, significantly, she does return, ultimately fully accepting responsibility for her actions and pledging never to repeat them.
Whilst she has gone there is a particularly illuminating exchange between Birling and the Inspector. Birling comments: ‘We were having a nice little family celebration tonight. And a nasty little mess you’ve made of it now, haven’t you?’. The Inspector then responds: ‘That’s more or less what I was thinking earlier tonight, when I was in the Infirmary looking at what was left of Eva Smith. A nice little promising life there, I thought, and a nasty mess somebody’s made of it’ .
The juxtaposition between these two comments and the repetition of key phrases serves to highlight the disparity between Birling and the Inspector and by extension they values they represent: what matters most to Birling is his celebration, but what matters most to the Inspector is the life of Eva.
Birling is brutally insular whilst the Inspector is compassionately communal.
Upon her return the audience discovers the role that Sheila played more exactly.
Whilst shopping at Milward’s she tried on a dress and caught Eva smirking at her believing that she was mocking her and because Eva was beautiful Sheila became jealous and requested that she be fired, which she was.
This perhaps tells us something about how the upper class control the working class: both Mr Birling and his daughter are in a position to have Eva fired and they wield this influence to disastrous effect.
This further highlights just how dependent people are on their jobs and as such the need for strict laws surrounding the work place, which Attlee’s Labour government sought to implement.
As the play continues, Sheila’s transformation and willingness to change her behaviour comes to represent and symbolise exactly the kind of change Priestley hopes his audience will make.
Sheila, unlike Mr Birling, comes to represent the moral template which the audience ought to emulate; a change provoked by the Inspector within the world of the play and perhaps, one might imagine, by Priestley himself out of it

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