C/W
Sheila (pp. 18-25)
5 May 2023
LOs:
• To actively annotate focusing on Sheila.
• To analyse Priestley's representation of the theme of social responsibility.
Starter:
• Write a definition of 'social responsibility'
• What is your impression of Sheila Birling
from what we've read so far?
CHALLENGE: What do you remember about
the women’s suffrage movement? How
might this have affected a 1945 audience’s
perception of Sheila?
The Inspector’s Interview with Sheila
Let’s read and annotate pages 18-25. (‘Oh – why had this to happen’?)
TASK: Summarise the key events in Eva’s life from November 1910 to
the end of January 1911.
How did Sheila know Eva Smith?
Why was she fired?
What do we learn about Sheila’s personality?
Looking at the Inspector’s interview with Sheila, analyse his use of language:
The Inspector’s Methods:
1. What questions does he ask? (open/closed, tone etc.)
2. What is the effect of these questions?
3. What type of language does he use?
4. How does he respond to what is said by Sheila?
Harsh/kind?
Rude?
Disregards social conventions?
Does he focus on what is moral or what is legal?
5. Does the way he responds change at all? Why?
The Birlings:
Staging:
1. How do stage directions
and props add to the sense of
conflict?
Think about:
 the Inspector’s use of
the photograph
 doors slamming
 entrances and exits
 other stage directions
in the text
1. How does Sheila respond to the Inspector?
2. What emotions does she display (e.g. anger, guilt, remorse...)
3. How does this add to/resolve the conflict?
4. How does this affect the Inspector’s methods?
Make sure you note down ideas and quotes as well as your analysis.
In An Inspector Calls, Priestley
explores social responsibility through:
• the treatment of Eva Smith
• how each character does or doesn’t
take responsibility for their behaviour
• the Inspector's lessons
Character
How does Priestly show
their feelings towards
social responsibility?
Analysis
Evidence
"If we were all
Mr Birling dismisses the
responsible for everything
idea that we should be
Mr Birling refuses to take
that happened to
Mr Birling does not feel
responsible for each
any responsibility for Eva
everybody we'd had
socially responsible
other, suggesting that
Smith’s death.
anything to do with, it
such a situation would be
would be very awkward,
'awkward'.
wouldn't it?"
How does Priestley present the
character’s views of social responsibility?
TASK: Complete the table for Eric,
Gerald and Sheila.
Spotlight On: Sheila's Reactions. What do the quotes below
suggest about Sheila?
Oh, how horrible!
Sorry! It's just that I can't help thinking about this girl – destroying herself so horribly
– and I've been so happy tonight.
But these girls aren't cheap labour, they're people.
(She looks at it closely, recognizes it with a little cry, gives a half-stifled sob, and then
runs out.)
HOMEWORK: Use what you have learned so far this lesson to write a short
‘question and answer’ interview with Sheila, which takes place just after she
has discovered her role in Eva Smith's death.
STEP ONE: Think of at least FOUR pressing questions to ask
Sheila.
STEP TWO: Imagine her reactions – how is she FEELING at this
point in the play?
STEP THREE: Make sure you have an interesting INTRODUCTION
to the interview – who is Sheila Birling and why is she interesting
to your reader?
CHALLENGE: Write the interview into a magazine article.
Plenary
What are your predictions for Sheila's
character as we move into the next
act?
How might her relationship with the
other members of her family change?