She went and complained to the manager about the girl and threatened to have her mother close her account with Milwards unless the girl was discharged at once. Milwards, in jeopardy of losing one of their valuable customers, did exactly as Sheila wanted. After realising the extent of her involvement with the girl Sheila feels extremely guilty. She wants to learn of other people’s involvement to soften the blow of the news she has just heard. In this way she feels she may not be completely to blame for Eva’s death. Sheila tries to convince her family to tell the Inspector about their own involvement straight away.
She hopes that by doing this they will feel less guilty and shocked when the inspector breaks down their defences, which she knows he will inevitably succeed in doing. Sheila’s reaction to her contribution to the girl’s suicide indicates that she appears in a better light than she did at the start of the play. She seems to be more considerate towards others and feels genuinely sorry about what she did. However Gerald informs the family that there is no Inspector Goole and that the whole thing is an apparent hoax. There is no Inspector Goole in the police force.
We can see that Sheila has truly learned her lesson. She and Eric are the only two characters who take responsibility for their actions. She is ashamed of what she did and horrified at how the others are reacting by laughing the whole thing off, “you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really had happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done. ” I think Sheila has now realised that community is important and that we are responsible for one another.
At the end of the play Priestly uses time recurrence of the Inspector coming to the house to question the family. This is to make it clear that if man does not learn anything from his mistakes he will be condemned to repeat them until he does. It also invites the reader to think about which of the characters might behave differently when the ‘real’ Inspector arrives. When the ‘real’ Inspector calls I think that Sheila will behave differently, because she has now changed her views on society and now feels more responsible for others and how her actions affect them.
She might also own up straight away rather than trying to hide what she did unlike her mother, father and Gerald. I think that Sheila has undergone a true change as a result of this experience. She has learned something and I don’t think that she is too keen to let it go, “whoever that Inspector was, it was anything but a joke. You knew it then. You began to learn something. And now you’ve stopped. You’re ready to go on in the same old way. ” ” I remember what he said, how he looked, and what he made me feel.
” I think this quote proves the change in her attitude and she has become a more admirable person at the end of the play than at the beginning. She seems to have broken free of the spoiled brat label. Explaining Sheila has taught me that you are a better person if you are watchful of others and take responsibility for your actions. Elspeth Renfrew Marr College English Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE J. B. Priestley section.
