Sheila and Eric

The stage directions describe Sheila as ‘a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited’ (Act 1). She is thrilled with her engagement and her ring, and she calls her mother ‘Mummy’.

But there are hints that she is sharper than she seems. She teases Gerald about ‘all last summer, when you never came near me’ (Act 1). She has noticed that something was wrong, even if she doesn't yet know what.

After leaving Mr Birling's factory, Eva worked at Milwards, a smart clothes shop. Sheila tried on a dress that didn't suit her and saw Eva smile. She was jealous, because Eva was ‘very pretty and looked as if she could take care of herself’ (Act 1). Sheila threatened to close her account unless Eva was sacked.

Sheila is horrified by what she did: ‘I'll never, never do it again to anybody’ (Act 1). She accepts her part straight away, unlike her father.

Even before her own questioning, she sees what her father cannot: ‘these girls aren't cheap labour – they're people’ (Act 1).

Sheila changes more than anyone. She quickly understands the Inspector, warning Gerald, ‘he knows. Of course he knows’ (Act 1). She gives back her engagement ring after hearing about Gerald and Daisy Renton.

At the end she refuses to pretend that nothing happened. When her parents relax, she tells them, ‘It frightens me the way you talk’ (Act 3).

Why Priestley uses her: Sheila shows that people, especially the young, can change. She often repeats the Inspector's ideas, so she becomes a voice for his message of social responsibility. As he says, the young are ‘more impressionable’ (Act 2).

Eric is described as ‘not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive’ (Act 1). He laughs at the wrong moments at dinner and drinks too much, though his parents don't notice.

He is the first to question his father. When he hears about the strike, he asks, ‘Why shouldn't they try for higher wages?’ (Act 1). He has a sense of fairness that his father lacks, even before the Inspector starts asking questions.

Eric met Eva, then calling herself Daisy Renton, in a bar. He was drunk and went back to her lodgings. He admits ‘I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty’ (Act 3), which suggests he forced himself on her.

She became pregnant. Eric gave her money that he had stolen from his father's office, but she refused it once she knew it was stolen.

Eric blames his father for not helping: ‘you're not the kind of father a chap could go to’ (Act 3). When he hears that his mother turned Eva away, he shouts, ‘you killed her’ (Act 3).

Like Sheila, Eric accepts what he did, whether or not the Inspector was real: ‘the fact remains that I did what I did’ (Act 3).

Why Priestley uses him: Eric shows the damage done by a family that cares more about appearances than honesty. His drinking, his stealing and his treatment of Eva are serious. But by the end he and Sheila stand for the younger generation's hope of change. Priestley contrasts the two generations: the young learn, and the old do not.