Gerald Flashcards
Ideal husband and son in law
Financially secure, high social status
Chooses engagement ring himself ‘is it the one you wanted me to have?’, makes him looks caring thoughtful
Genial attitude polite to Sheila’s parents and humble ‘I don’t pretend to know much about port’ contrasts mr bs pompous and arrogant opinions
Experienced micheton (customer of a prostitute)
Good natured portrayal at beginning starts to break down Portrayed as spending considerable amount of time in bars and socialising with prostitutes, shown through his vivid description ‘I hated those dough-faced women’ this opinion came from experience rather than a one off chance occurrence
Eva seemed to be ‘out of place’ shows he must of known what was ordinary of a prostitute
Lustful
Only cared for Eva over lustful desires ‘she was pretty-soft brown hair and big dark eyes- [breaks off] My God!’
Aposiopesis used (abrupt break off in speech) comes directly after he described her beauty, shows how he was only physically attracted to her as he feels the greatest grief when recalling her physical appearance
Aware of upper class immortality
Conscious of cruelty of upper class but shows no desire to change society so thereby compromises the privilege that he commands, he’s stuck on moral crossroads, either fight against class system or use it to his advantage
Perceives himself as a hero by saving Eva, his desire is clear to help Eva yet only to the extent of maintaining his own privilege and comfort
Maintains image of an honest and respectful upper class man in his public sphere of influence and inherited duty to preserve society as it is due to his family business so he needs to maintain the systemic immorality of the class system even though he disagrees with it set apart from birling fam- can recognise its flaws which they can’t fathom
Stuck in the middle
Caught between younger and older gen forming this middle generation
This liminality extends to his attitudes and ideology. He’s exhibited as less flexible and less impressionable than Shiela and Eric in his convictions yet still doesn’t accept own responsibility
Deliberately ignores sense of morality chooses to forget actions chooses to only react to injustice that’s visible to him rather than institutionalised prejudice that class system causes
Evident when he only helped Eva because it was visible to him, couldn’t ignore it ‘Old Joe Meggarty half drunk half goggled eyed had wedged into a corner with that obscene fat carcass of his’
‘I went down into the bar for a drink. It’s my favourite haunt of women of the town’
Euphemism in ‘haunt of women’ to mask true intentions
‘Women of the town’ are prostitutes, his intentions to do ‘down into the bar for a drink’ was sexually driven displaying his role of ‘lust’ as one of the seven deadly sins. Attempts to conceal truth from them. Pause in two sections shows he has contemplated the consequence of lying again
‘She was young and pretty and warm hearted- and intensely grateful’
‘Young’ ‘pretty’ values semblance before emotive like Shiela
Exterior appearance of women come to mind before their temperament
Used as a dramatic device for Edwardian men who only treasured outermost appearance of women and their dispositions were often seen as feeble compared to men
‘Everything alright now Sheila?’
Like mr b, he thinks because the inspector was a ‘hoax’ he can revolve back to acting how he was before
After claiming he needed to ‘walk around for a bit’ audience though he would contemplate actions towards Eva, instead decided whether the inspector was real or a hoax
