Explain how the audience is made to appreciate how one character in ‘An Inspector calls’ changes for the better. There are two examples of characters that change for the better in the play ‘An inspector calls.’ These characters are Sheila and Eric. I chose Sheila as I thought that she changed the most out of the two. At the start she was spoilt, jealous and arrogant, but when she hears about Eva Smith’s death she becomes remorseful. At the start of the play Sheila is celebrating with her Gerald Croft. Sheila had been brought up in a rich family and so had Gerald. This lead to her being stubborn as described by Eric in Act one.
‘She’s got a nasty temper sometimes’ He says this because she gets angry with things easily, because she is spoilt and always gets her own way as a result. She gets jealous of people that are better looking than herself. In Act one the Inspector starts the conversation and Sheila replies. ‘You might have been said to be jealous of her.’ ‘Yes I suppose I was.’ She is jealous of Eva because Eva is better looking than she is. She became jealous of Eva when she smiled while Sheila was looking in the mirror. As Sheila never works she feels superior and if someone has got something better than she has she thinks they need to be punished. She punished Eva by getting her sacked from Milwards.
Sheila has always been brought up to be spoilt because she had been brought up by rich parents. This is shown when she is in Milwards in Act one. ‘I went to the Manager at Milwards.’ This shows that she can get anything she wants and the best service, like buying an expensive dress when she wants to. Sheila doesn’t think about anyone but herself, as shown in Act one. ‘I couldn’t be sorry for her.’ At the time when she gets Eva sacked, she doesn’t care about what has happened to her afterwards. She thinks that Eva can look after herself, but she can’t. She wasn’t aware of Eva’s money difficulties or her accommodation problems. She just felt furious and just thought about herself.
Sheila wealth also brings her power and arrogance, shown in Act one when the Inspector says. ‘And so you used the power you had’ This makes her big headed because she knows she has power and she likes to use it. The changing point to Sheila’s attitude is when she finds out about Eva’s death and how she died. Sheila shows her disbelief in Act 1. ‘Oh-how horrible!’ This is the changing point for Sheila because she knows that she played a part in the death of Eva Smith. She also starts feeling sorry for Eva as she made her life hell.
After this she wants to help Eva as shown in Act one. ‘And if I could help her now, I would’ This shows that she is not angry and jealous with Eva but she wants to help her, but it is to late as stated by the inspector in Act one. ‘Its too late. She’s dead.’ This means that she can’t help Eva because she is dead. You can also tell that Sheila is sorry because of her expressions. From stage directions in Act one. ‘ She almost breaks down, but just controls herself’ This shows that she almost begins to cry about the situation. Now she has told everyone the truth she wants to hear the truth from everyone else. Gerald in Act two tells us this.
‘You’ve been through it and now you want to see somebody else put though it’ This means that Sheila has owned up to her wrong doings and now she wants to see Gerald being questioned by the Inspector. Then the Inspector describes the death of Eva again to the two of them. Sheila shows signs of sorrow in Act two as a stage direction reads. ‘distressed’ This shows that Sheila has thought about what she has done wrong and is sorry. She wants to get the thought of Eva’s death out of her head. Sheila feels partly responsible for Eva’s death.
‘I know I’m to blame and I’m desperately sorry.’ This shows Sheila is sorry and that she knows that she is partly to blame and it is not all her fault. ‘But I cant believe-I wont believe-its simply my fault.’ Sheila thinks that it’s not just her fault that Eva committed suicide. Sheila at the start of the play is like her mother and now she feels sorry. She is remorseful about what she did and if she could change her actions she would.
