Gerald Flashcards
Context
Mr Croft. He is employed at his father’s company which is called
Crofts Limited. The Croft family business is in competition with,
and also both bigger and older than, Birling & Co. Gerald’s parents
are Sir George Croft and Lady Croft, who are socially superior to
the Birlings. Priestley describes Gerald, in the initial stage
directions, as “[an attractive chap about thirty, rather too
manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young
man-about-town]”. He contributes to the “chain of events” which drive Eva to suicide by using
her as a mistress.
Priestley uses the character of Gerald to represent the individualism of the upper-class.
He disillusions (disappoints) the audience, who hopes that by the end of the play he would
change his capitalist and selfish attitudes, as he fails to do so.
Therefore, Priestley uses Gerald’s failure to develop his sense of social responsibility, to
convey how entrenched these upper-class attitudes are; even death won’t change them.
Key quotes
Page 37: ‘I want you to understand that I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her.’
The Inspector isn’t as harsh on him as he is on Mr and Mrs Birling – he notes that at least Gerald ‘had some affection for her and made her happy for a time.’
Page 31: ‘Mrs Birling, the inspector knows all that. And I don’t think it’s a very good idea to remind him’
Page 38: ‘I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me’
Symbolism
Manipulation
Gerald proposes that the Inspector was lying and that Eva was, in fact, several different girls. This
is despite being the one who provided the evidence and verified that Eva was in fact the same
person from his description.
-
Gerald recognised that she was
“very pretty” and had “big dark eyes”
-
Also he remembered that Eva had to “leave after a strike” and “said something about
the shop too”
Arguably, Gerald knows that Eva is the same person, but he is trying to excuse his own behaviour
and also convince himself that he is innocent by later suggesting that “there’s still no proof it was
really the same gir!”
Priestley presents this as a pattern of the upper-classes; they commit sinful actions which they
know are wrong but convince themselves it is acceptable. This behaviour is displayed by other
characters within the play:
Eric euphemises his actions as “when a chap easily gets nasty”
Mrs Birling claims that “I did nothing I’m ashamed of” and that with regards to Eva, “she
had only herself to blame”
Mr Birling dogmatically states that “she (Eva) had to go” and that “it’s my duty to keep
labour costs down”
Even Sheila knew it was wrong and “I felt rotten about it at the time”, yet she pushes it to
the back of her mind and forgets about it, rather than changing her behavior.
The characters know their behaviour and treatment of the lower classes is wrong but manage to
forget the things they do and go on living their privileged lives like nothing happened.
Generations and views
Priestley portrays Gerald as caught between the older and younger-generations - forming this
middle-generation. This liminality (at a position between two boundaries) extends to his attitudes
and ideology. Gerald is exhibited as less flexible and less impressionable than Sheila and Eric
in his convictions, however he does accept his own responsibility.
Priestley portrays Gerald as deliberately ignoring his sense of morality and chooses to try and
forget his actions. He intentionally chooses to only react to the injustice that is visible and obvious
to him, rather than the institutionalised prejudice that the class-system causes. This is evident
as he only helped Eva because it was visible to him and he couldn’t ignore it
A02 analysis
“Sorry - I well, I’ve suddenly realised- taken it in properly - that she’s dead”
Gerald’s delayed reaction to her death is diluted with
hyphens as this stammered and staggered speech reveals
the overwhelming sadness he feels. Priestley reveals the
internal conflict within Gerald, between his natural
emotional reaction and his attempt to suppress any
(feminene) emotion that he shows, as he has to remain
masculine in a patriarchal society.
“Women of the town”
Priestley uses euphemistic language to evidence Gerald’s
determination to conceal his use of prostitutes as “women of
the town”
“she was pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes -breaks off My God!”
Priestley’s use of aposiopesis (abrupt break off in speech)
comes directly after Gerald describes her beauty. Therefore,
revealing that Gerald only felt attracted to Eva physically as
he feels the greatest grief when remembering her physical
beauty.
