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[Music]
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n
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[Music]
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welcome back to click revision this
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video continues our examination of each
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of the characters in An Inspector Calls
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this time focusing on Sheila
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[Music]
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Burling we'll be looking at how Sheila
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is described at the beginning of the
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play her relationship with Eva Smith and
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how she behaved before during and after
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the inspector's visit in a little more
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detail
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[Music]
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Sheila Burling is possibly the most
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complex character in in spectacles and
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is certainly the character who shows the
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most progression throughout the
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play it's fair to say that unlike her
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parents Sheila is deeply affected by the
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inspector's visit and shows a great deal
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of remorse for the death of Eva Smith
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this also means that unlike Mr and Mrs
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Burling her feelings towards some of of
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the themes of Charity and responsibility
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change as the play progresses as she
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says herself she is not the same person
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at the end of the play as she is when it
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begins so at the start of the play
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Sheila could be described as innocent
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light-hearted or witty and even naive
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which means she doesn't know much about
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how the world works the stage directions
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at the opening of the play tell us that
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Sheila is a pretty girl in her early 20s
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very pleased with life and rather
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excited which doesn't give us much to go
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on but at least makes her sound like
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someone who lives an untroubled
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existence she's pleased with life and
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everything is going well for her in
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general she's also rather excited
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because of her engagement to Gerald and
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so she should be she's getting engaged
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to a successful young well-bred local
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boy and her parents couldn't be happy
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with the choice she has
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made is it important that she's a pretty
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girl well you could argue that Priestley
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could have chosen to describe Sheila as
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pretty so an audience would instantly
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recognize her as someone who lives a
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privileged life here being beautiful is
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just another example of how everything
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comes easily to her so overall she's in
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a bubbly mood and having a lovely time
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when we meet her in fact a lot of
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Sheila's dialogue in the early part of
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an inspector calls suggests that she's a
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fairly shallow young woman and before
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the inspector's arrival she comes across
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as a bit childish she makes a lot of
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jokes and teases Eric and Gerald and
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uses modern young people words like
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squiffy which her mother disapproves
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of however we should try not to think of
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Sheila as just a silly young girl
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because she's actually quite a strong
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forceful character let's take a look at
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her first
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line on the surface she's making a joke
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about the sort of purple-faced old men
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who drink a lot of Port but there's more
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information hidden under the surface
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here firstly Sheila's language when she
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says I should Jolly well think not shows
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her to be upper class but not as
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reserved and Posh as her mother the
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phrase Jolly well is about as close to
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swearing in public as an upper class
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Lady of the time would get secondly by
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contrasting Gerald to the purple-faced
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old men she mentions she's highlighting
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how young and attractive she thinks
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Gerald is by comparison from this line
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and the Casual tone she's using and the
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fact they are sat together on stage it's
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clear she admires Gerald and you can
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assume their engagement is based on love
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and isn't just about
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money and finally there's a big clue to
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Sheila's character in the stage
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directions here Sheila is described as
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acting gay and possessively so she's
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almost giddy with happiness and
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light-hearted in the way she speaks but
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she is also possessive so she's
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asserting power over Gerald and is
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putting him in his place even if she's
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making a joke at the same
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time Sheila is a bit spoiled and reacts
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spitefully or passive aggressively to
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things not going how she would have
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wanted she has a habit of being a bit
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bitter or sarcastic towards people even
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when she's joking and is described as
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half playful half serious more than once
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basically when when Sheil is upset she
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takes it out on the people around her as
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Eric says she's got a nasty temper
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sometimes and this is important because
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it's this Snappy nasty reactionary side
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of her character that comes into play
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when she meets Eva Smith but generally
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Sheila is a fairly good judge of
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character she knows her brother better
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than her parents do and is the person to
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reveal Eric's heavy
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drinking furthermore she's already
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suspicious of Gerald over the mysterious
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summer he spent working lots which we
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later find out was spent with Daisy Bron
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and when Gerald recognizes the name of
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the dead girl she notices that Gerald
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clearly knew her look at this
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line here Sheila is talking on equal
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terms with Gerald and standing up for
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herself at the same time she is also
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extremely sarcastic towards Gerald when
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he tells his story describing him as the
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wonderful fairy Prince and the hero of
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the story we'll cover this aspect of
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Sheila's relationship in more detail in
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Gerald's video but for now just hold on
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to the fact that Sheila is not afraid to
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speak up for herself particularly when
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she feels hurt or wronged after all
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she's still browbeating Gerald about
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spending too much time at work the
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previous summer and that was 7 months
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ago nonetheless Sheila is still a woman
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in 192 and does conform to some of the
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stereotypes of the era firstly when
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Gerald is toasting his new bride Sheila
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warns him you be careful or I'll stop
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weeping obviously this is a very sappy
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response and shows her childish innoc
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side additionally when Gerald takes the
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engagement ring out of his pocket Sheila
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refers to it as the one you wanted me to
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have which suggests that Gerald chose
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her engagement ring for her and finally
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once dinner is finished she and her
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mother go into the drawing room and
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leave the dining room to the men which
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means she isn't in the room when the
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inspector arrives by the time she
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returns the inspector has already
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finished questioning Mr Burling and is
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ready to turn his attention to
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her Sheila is the second family member
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to be interviewed by the inspector and
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was the second family member to meet Eva
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Smith Sheila met Eva Smith in January
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1911 that's four months after she'd been
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sacked from Burling and Company now
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Sheila's running with Eva Smith is
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probably the simplest of all the
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berlings Eva Smith was working at
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Milwood a local department store after
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being fired from burling's
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Factory Sheila goes in Milwood and tries
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on aess but looks silly in the thing at
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this point Eva Smith holds the dress up
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and it suits her better than it does
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Sheila Sheila looks over and thinks she
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sees Eva Smith smiling to her boss and
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because Eva Smith is pretty and
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attractive she feels jealous and
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embarrassed therefore Sheila complains
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to the manager until Eva Smith is fired
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from her job I went to the manager and
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told him that this girl had been very
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impertinent she
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says now there are two important points
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to take away here the first is that
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impertinent is very much a Mrs Burling
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word she uses it three times in the play
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and there's an argument to be made that
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Sheila was simply copying her mother's
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behavior when she got Eva Smith fired
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the second thing to take away here is
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the idea that the Burling family is Rich
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and powerful enough in the community
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that if they make a complaint in a shop
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it will be followed up if they make a
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threat to take their custom away even if
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it comes from a stroppy spoiled younger
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daughter of the family it will be taken
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seriously Sheila says I went to the
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manager at Milwood and I told him that
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if they didn't get rid of that girl I'd
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never go near the place again and I'd
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persuade mother to close our account
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with them the Burling family clearly
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spends a lot of money in the shop and
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Sheila abused her parents' power as
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respected members of the community for
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her own
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gain however Sheila does not react with
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that same sense of false Pride after the
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inspector arrives she is horrified by
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the circumstances of Eva Smith's death
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saying I can't help thinking about this
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girl destroying herself so horribly she
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also shows she has a social conscience
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straight away when she finds out Mr
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Burling fired Eva Smith and tells her
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father I think it was a mean thing to do
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perhaps that spoils everything for her
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and but these girls aren't cheap labor
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they're people she is clearly showing
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empathy for the dead girl here and we
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can compare this to Mr burling's yes yes
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response to the death to see just how
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different Sheila is to her father in
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this regard furthermore when she sees
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the inspector's photograph she's so
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horrified at being implicated in Eva
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Smith's death that that she bursts into
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tears and runs out the room and we can
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compare this Behavior to Mrs Burling who
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is so unmoved that she still pretends to
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not recognize the person in the
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picture when Sheila returns again she is
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remorseful she remembers the incident
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and gives the impression that she knew
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she was being unreasonable at the time I
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felt rotten about it at the time and now
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I feel a lot worse she says suggesting
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that she has thought about the incident
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since she asked so I'm really
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responsible and immediately accept the
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idea that she could be in some way to
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blame for Eva Smith's death the stage
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Direction here leaves us in little doubt
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that the inspector has gotten under
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Sheila's skin let's have a look at some
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of Sheila's comments in this section of
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the play in these quotes Sheila is
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explaining herself to the inspector but
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she's not making excuses at all here and
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the inspector isn't judging her
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responses in fact he's not even really
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interrogating Sheila he's just letting
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her talk so she carries on
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talking she says and it just suited her
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she was the right type for it just as I
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was the wrong type she was very pretty
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too with big dark eyes and that didn't
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make it any better how could I know what
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would happen afterwards if she'd been
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some miserable plain little creature I
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don't suppose I'd have done it but she
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was very pretty and looked as if she
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could take care of herself I couldn't be
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sorry for her and if I could help her
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now I would it's the only time I've ever
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done anything like that and I'll never
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never do it again to anybody these lines
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make it clear that Sheila is contrite
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which means she's sorry for what she's
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done she openly admits that she probably
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picked on Eva Smith because she was very
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pretty and regrets her behavior which
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didn't seem to be anything very terrible
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at the time at this point the inspector
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has finished his questioning but Sheila
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feels too guilty to leave the inspector
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has made such an impression on her that
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she feels compelled to stay and hear
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everything as the inspector says she
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feels responsible and if she leaves now
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and doesn't hear anymore then she'll
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feel she's entirely to blame she'll be
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alone with her responsibility the rest
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ofon night all tomorrow all the next
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night here the inspector is recognizing
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that Sheila has shown remorse for her
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actions unlike the older berlings he
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sees that she will be eaten up by the
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guilt he has brought upon her and is
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again compassionate towards her because
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of this compassionate side Sheila is
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clearly fascinated with inspector ghoul
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look at the stage directions here
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there's a sense of wide-eyed Wonder in
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this line a Sheila attempts to
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understand this harsh but kind policeman
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who is tearing her family apart she
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recognizes that the inspector is leading
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them to their own Doom saying he's
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giving us the Rope so we'll hang
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ourselves but because she's fascinated
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by him she carries on trying to break
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down the barriers that her parents and
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Gerald are building in front of the
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inspector so much so that her parents
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begin to treat her like she's change
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sides here Sheila isn't trying to betray
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her family she just wants to get
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everything out in the open and knows is
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inevitable whereas her parents just want
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to try and stall the inspector until he
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runs out of questions and leaves
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so the Burling parents are going to keep
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on lying and hiding information but
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Sheila is on a quest for
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truth as a result when the inspector
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finally does leave and her parents and
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later Gerald begin to dismiss the
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inspector's visit Sheila is horrified
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and almost takes on the role of the
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inspector against her family for the
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rest of the play she tells Gerald you
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and I aren't the same people who sat
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down to dinner here and she clearly
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recognizes the gravity and importance of
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the inspector's visit and when the
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inspector is unmasked as not being a
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police officer Sheila's sarcasm returns
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and she remarks I suppose we're all nice
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people now recognizing that even if the
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events weren't real the behavior of the
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berlings most definitely
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was even after Gerald has phone the Mory
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and discovered there is no suicide
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victim and Arthur Burling has returned
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to making jokes and toasting his own
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good health Sheila is still desperate to
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hold on to the lessons the inspector has
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taught them you're forgetting one thing
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I still can't forget everything we said
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had happened really had happened if it
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didn't end tragically then that's lucky
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for us but it might have done she tells
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her family you're pretending
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everything's just as it was before and
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sarcastically suggests so nothing really
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happened so there's nothing to be sorry
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for nothing to learn we can all go on
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behaving just as we did so clearly at
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this point she's genuinely disgusted by
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the behavior of her family in their
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attempts to try and shrug off the
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responsibility of the situation and she
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says to her father you you began to
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learn something and now you've stopped
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you're ready to go on in the same old
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way and you can see that she's really
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sad about this because she feels she's
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become a better person for the
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inspector's visit and is disappointed in
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the rest of the family for not learning
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the same lessons she has she by far
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shows the most mature reaction to the
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inspector's calling which is ironic
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because Mr and Mrs Burling revert
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straight back to treating Sheila as a
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child telling her she's hysterical and
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over
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tired we'll finish this video with an
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interesting question if the berlings are
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right and there is no inspector no dead
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girl and no tragedy for which to answer
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then where does that leave each of them
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well Mr and Mrs Burling have done
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nothing to worry about Eric has stolen a
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bit of money which his family can easily
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afford to repay and gotten a girl
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pregnant somewhere but that's still a
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fixable
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situation but what about Sheila and
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Gerald well Sheila is never going to
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trust her fiance again and we don't know
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where they're going to go from here so
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you could certainly argue that she is
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the only member of the family who still
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stands to be hurt by the inspector's
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visit if you look at it this way it's
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little wonder she's the one person in
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the room who doesn't want to see
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everyone forget the lessons they have
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learned throughout the
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evening well that's all on Sheila for
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now thanks for watching our next video
00:14:48
will focus on Gerald Croft but we'd
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recommend attempting to write a few
00:14:52
sentences in answer to each of these
00:14:54
questions before you move
00:14:57
on question one what took place between
00:15:00
Sheila and Eva Smith try to answer
00:15:02
clearly and in chronological
00:15:05
order question two how does Sheila's
00:15:08
Behavior change throughout the
00:15:12
play question three what do you think
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will happen between Gerald and Sheila
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after the play is finished how would her
00:15:19
family react to them either staying
00:15:20
together or breaking up
