Sheila Act 1 Flashcards
“a pretty girl”
AO2: “girl” (noun) infantalises sheila even though shes in her mid twenties and show how people view her as a”silly” etc
Context: dhows that shes desirable in a 1920s society as women weere mainly valued off their looks
“rather excited”
AO2: adjective “excited” portrays her as a bit silly and ditzy
Context: portrays the ideal woman as she doesnt take herself too seriously and isnt portaryed as a threat to men
“half serious, half playful”
AO2: in the stage directions, suggests her chracter has more depth as she’s not so silly any more and now is “half serious”. she still maintains the element of ditziness as shes describes as “playful”
“last summer when you never came near me”
AO2: FORESHADOWING, Priestly hints at Geralds affair with Eva/Daisy
“these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people”
Context: contradicts what arthur said shows difference between older and younger generation
Theme : younger gen vs older gen shows that younger gen is more moral and progressive
” so i’m really responsible?”
AO2: bc its a question still portrays her as a bit innocent and ditzy as it’s clear she does hold some responsibility.
. ALLITERATION of “really responsible” also suggests that Priestly is emphasisng that sheila doesnt want to hold responsibilty
“if she’d been some miserable plain little creature, i don’t suppose i’d have done it”
AO2: tripling of adjectives (“miserable, plain , little”) brings emphasis to the fact that sheila felt that eva was threat as she wasnt misrable, plain etc
. use of the noun “creature” dehumanises eva and shows sheilas class bias although shes’s more progressive shes still not all good
. whole quote suggest that sheila did it out of jealousy and this suggests that shes rather childish and does’nt act like the 20 something old she should
“i’ll never,never do it again to anybody”
AO2: repetition of “never” brings emphasis to the fcat that she regrets what she did
Context : shows that she’s remorseful and the younger gen are easier to chnage their ways
“why-you fool- he knows”
AO2: she degardes gerald for being stupid using the noun “fool” diesrespecting him which wouldn’t be common at the time as he was her fiance
. suggest that she’s wise than what she puts on and she realises the inspectors plan
. “knows” is in italics so it brings emphaises to that word shows that she’s smarter than she looks and is unreavelling the inspectors plan
