How is the character of Sheila presented in J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’?

Sheila is presented as changing and developing throughout the play, growing from a puerile, juvenile figure to gain independence from her parents. At the start of the play, a semantic field of childishness is developed in Sheila’s language as she initially refers to her parents as “mummy” and “daddy”. This highlights Sheila’s immature, irresponsible at the beginning of the play. However, the polyptoton of “mummy” to “mother” conveys her change from an endearing childlike figure to a more cold, independent character. Furthermore, Sheila reminds her parents that she is “not a child, don’t forget”. This condescending reminder, aided by the imperative order of “don’t forget”, emphasises the image of Sheila defending herself and trying to wrestle responsibility from her parents. The play is set during the pre-WW1 period and at the start of the women’s suffrage movement, the campaign to give women more rights and the vote. Indeed, in this context of the early 20th Century, Sheila can be viewed as an early suffragist and forbearer in the first wave of the feminist movement.  Not only does Sheila develop during the course of the play through gaining independence from her parents, but also by rejecting the behaviour and actions of her fiancé Gerald. Throughout the play, the symbol of the ring is important in the changing dynamic of Sheila and Gerald’s relationship. Initially, the ring symbolises the control and possession of women by men inherent to the early 20th Century; Sheila asks Gerald if it is “the one you wanted me to have?”. The question highlights how Sheila only seeks to please Gerald at the beginning of the play, fulfilling the stereotype of wives subservient to their husbands that her mother, Mrs Birling, has already become. However, after Gerald’s affair is revealed, the ring becomes toxic, a symbol of the decay and breakdown of relationships that is persistent throughout the play. This change matches that of Sheila, who, as a result of the breakdown of her relationship, is able to free herself and become independent. This allows her to subvert the “hysterical” characteristic attributed to her by her parents, her fiancé and even the stage directions. The trope of women as hysterical was common in society during the late 19th and early 20th Century, as exemplified in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, a novella written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 that showed the typical view of women as hysterical or mad if they did not do what they were told.