gerald

Question 1

what is the initial depiction of gerald?

Answer 1

• physically attractive. ‘rather too manly to be a dandy’. content, confident in masculinity.
• ‘easy well-bred young man-of-the-town’. idiomatic phrase suggests Gerald is fashionable socialite.
• alternatively, priestley could be
  foreshadowing unfaithful nature of
  Gerald.
• ideal husband, son in law. financial security, higher social status. chooses engagement ring himself, ‘is it the one you wanted me to have?’ seems caring and thoughtful (controlling and excluding of women’s opinions). genial attitude, polite and humble to parents - contrasts to pompous and arrogant opinions of birling.
• ‘middle generation’ member. less flexible and less impressionable than younger generation, but accepts responsibility. deliberately ignores sense of morality, tries to forget actions.
• short-lived guilt for actions - tries to
  reason and manipulate his conscience.
  unsympathetic response - change in
  Gerald’s attitudes has to be permanent
  for real change in society to occur.
• not outright rejection of responsibility,
  but manipulation of events to alleviate
  responsibility and to justify his actions.
• only follows moral stance when suits needs. content to lie about affair ‘awfully busy at the works all that time’. clear that Gerald unrepentant until sheila finds out. tries to get eva to leave and limit the repercussions that could affect him by throwing her onto street.

Question 2

what are our final impressions of gerald?

Answer 2

• audience begins to learn about his night-time activities, good-natured portrayal starts to break down. spends considerable amount of time in bars, socialising with, using prostitutes.
• vivid description of prostitutes - ‘I hate those hard-eyed dough-faced women’ can only come from experience, rather than one-time. for eva to seem ‘out of place’, must have known what was ordinary for prostitute and therefore be experienced.
• only cared about eva because of his own lustful desires, ‘she was pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes - (breaks off) my god!’ breaks off after describes her beauty. only felt attracted to eva physically, feels greatest grief when remembering her physical beauty.
• audience let down by not-so-respectable Gerald. rejects responsibility, tries to dismantle theory of eva smith, suggesting it was a different girl each time. priestley conveys apparent changes in upper class are merely superficial.

Question 3

describe gerald’s attitude towards women:

Answer 3

• condescending to women in particular. priestley incorporates rescue imagery in regard to eva, but Gerald’s rescue of eva is a façade, Gerald is taking her captive - her situation remains the same, the captor is different.
• attracted by eva’s weakness and
  innocence. evidences general perception
  of women at time as only being valued for
  being pretty and sexual gratification.
• continues demeaning cult of victimhood ‘young women should be protected from disturbing and unpleasant things’, too fragile to witness harsh reality of world. ironic, Gerald failed to protect eva from his ‘disturbing and unpleasant’ sexual desires.
• truth behind conviction exposed - only
  exists to benefit men and for them to
  maintain their own power. he only wants
  sheila to leave so she doesn’t hear about
  his affair with eva.
• gerald did however have a distinct emotional reaction to the death of eva which would have been classed as a feminine trait at the time. his speech is stammered and staggered when he hears of eva’s death, revealing the overwhelming sadness he feels.
• internal conflict - show his natural
  emotional reaction or attempt to
  suppress any feminine emotion he has, in
  order to stay masculine in a patriarchal
  society.
• had tried to forget what he did to eva,
  and to suppress any emotion he may
  have had about it. the upper class ignore
  the consequences of their actions and
  forget so they can continue living a life of
  luxury without guilt.

Question 4

how is gerald’s and the upper class’s power shown?

Answer 4

• upper class easily manipulate truth - Gerald given complete power over narrative, reflecting the patriarchal society. conveys the message that the upper class are untouchable by law and responsibility, they have too much power to be stopped by the authorities.
• had tried to forget what he did to eva,
  and to suppress any emotion he may
  have had about it. the upper class ignore
  the consequences of their actions and
  forget so they can continue living a life of luxury without guilt.

Question 5

describe gerald’s relationship with mr birling:

Answer 5

similar to mr birling in their economic views. Gerald’s support for mr birling’s opinions is necessary so he can uphold good relations with his father-in-law.
- however, Gerald will inherit the family business, so he probably actually agrees with birling’s opinions, as he is a capitalist himself.

• Gerald represents future generation of capitalists, who are no different to their predecessors. Gerald may only show a little care to those below him but only if it benefits him and doesn’t compromise his own privilege.