In Act One, Priestley initially presents Sheila as a submissive and typical girl raised in Edwardian Britain, an immature female who is seemingly less intelligent that the male figures of the play. However, as the story unfolds, she begins to mature and eventually shows herself to be a progressive and conscientious character, unlike her older relatives; evidently a tool for Priestley to convey his themes of socialism and responsibility, how the youth shape the future and how ‘traditional’ capitalist ideas should be left behind.
The exposition first introduces her as “a pretty girl in her early twenties… very pleased with life and rather excited”. This immediately sets the tone of her personality as someone who is young, naïve, overly light-hearted;…show more content… What’s happening?” After setting her up as an entirely complacent character, Priestley begins to make her ask questions, painting her as a forward-looking individual who wants to gain more knowledge (like the suffragettes of his time did, in fact). Moreover, the use of the word “further” may show that she is “furthering” herself in the situation- perhaps implying that she is more open-minded than her older parents, and that what she represents as a character (feminism, socialism) is “further” (better) than…show more content… However, on page 23 after confessing, she also exclaims, “all right Gerald, you needn’t look at me like that!” this illustrates how she is standing up for herself and her rights, speaking assertively to someone generally considered as superior to her (her male fiancée). Moreover, this line parallels how on page 11 Gerald says “don’t look like that, Sheila!”, explicitly showing that she is now in control, powerful in her speech as a man would commonly be expected to. A stage direction further highlighting Sheila’s newfound female dominance is (in triumph), used after she has argued with Gerald. It reveals that she has been successful in something, emerged victorious and “triumphant”, has exhibited more authority when arguing with her fiancée. She is feeling pride, much like suffragettes did when protesting and succeeding, and thus she can be viewed as an embodiment of the feminist movement in the