Sheila Birling

• She is described at the start as "a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased naive rope learnt with life and rather pleased happenedexcitedperceptive."
• Even though she seems very playful at the opening, we know that she has had compassion conscience curioussuspicions about Gerald when she mentions "last summer, when you never came near me." Does this suggest that she is not as unfavourable naive conscience trivial and shallow as she first appears?
• Although she has probably never in her life before considered the conditions of the workers, she shows her suspicions pleased compassion rope immediately she hears of her father's treatment of Eva Smith: "But these girls aren't cheap labour pleased unfavourable learnt - they're people."Already, she is starting to change.
• She is trivial conscience rope horrified by her own part in Eva's story. She feels full of guilt learnt suspicions naive for her jealous actions and blames herself as"really responsible."
• She is very learnt naive excitedperceptive: she realises that Gerald knew Daisy Renton from his reaction, the moment the Inspector mentioned her name. At the end of Act II, she is the first to realise Eric's part in the story. Significantly, she is the first to wonder who the Inspector really is, saying to him, 'trivial conscience perceptivewonderingly', "I don't understand about you." She warns the others "he's giving us the pleased conscience rope horrified - so that we'll hang ourselves" (Act II) and, near the end, is the first to consider whether the Inspector may not be real.
• She is curiousrope compassion conscience . She genuinely wants to know about Gerald's part in the story. It's interesting that she is not angry with him when she hears about the unfavourable naive affairlearnt : she says that she respects his honesty. She is becoming more mature.
• She is angry with her parents in Act 3 for trying to "pretend that nothing much has excitedpleased perceptivehappened." Sheila says "It frightens me the way you talk:" she cannot understand how they cannot have learnt labour pleased guilt from the evening in the same way that she has. She is seeing her parents in a new, labour trivial unfavourable naive light.
• At the end of the play, Sheila is much wiser. She can now naive rope guilt judge her parents and Gerald from a new perspective, but the greatest change has been in herself: her social compassion naive suspicions conscience has been awakened and she is aware of her responsibilities. The Sheila who had a girl dismissed from her job for a horrified naive guilt trivial reason has vanished forever.