Sheila's Complete Transformation
Ever wondered how a character can completely flip their worldview in just one evening? Sheila Birling's epiphany shows exactly how powerful moral awakening can be when someone truly opens their eyes to social injustice.
At the play's start, Priestley introduces Sheila as "a pretty girl, pleased with life and rather excited" - the stage directions immediately paint her as carefree and innocent. Her youthful exuberance and light tone reveal her early naivety about the harsh realities facing working-class people.
However, by the end of the play, Sheila becomes Priestley's mouthpiece for social responsibility. When she declares "between us, we drove that girl to commit suicide," the active verb "drove" shows her direct acknowledgement of collective guilt. The inclusive pronoun "us" demonstrates her complete understanding of shared responsibility - a stark contrast to her parents who constantly deflect blame.
Key Quote Analysis: Notice how Sheila addresses her mother as "mother" rather than "mummy" by the play's end - this formal distance shows her disapproval of her family's capitalist attitudes and marks her emotional maturity.
Her moral maturity becomes evident when she confronts capitalism directly: "but these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people." This pronoun shift from "these girls" to "people" represents her growing empathy and socialist values. She's moved from seeing working-class women as distant figures to recognising their full humanity - exactly what Priestley wanted his 1945 audience to understand.