Gerald Croft Flashcards
“she looked young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there.”
presents gerald as a man who would take advantage of poor, vulnerable women such as Eva Smith.
- firstly this may come across as generous- gerald trying to make himself appear as a saint
- misogynistic and classist undertones
- “young” and “fresh” indicates that Eva is a virgin.
- gerald being attracted to innocence is revealing of his lascivious and unscrupulous character
-“charming”- these adjectives are constantly describing her appearance, ultimately objectifying her
- “out of place down there”-discriminating against lower class women and presents his superiority complex
- also links to when mr birling states that a woman’s clothes
- also insinuates that a woman’s appearance is what makes her worthy of a safe and healthy lifestyle
- this is priestley showing that he would not have ‘helped’ her if he wasn’t attracted to her
- being poor like Eva lead her to be unfortunately exploited
- women in 1910s would have been commonly victims of this
“yes i suppose it was inevitable”
“inevitable”
can’t be stopped or controlled- implying it was bound to happen
-theres a sense that he expected her to fall for him and consent
-deluded- it is not inevitable that you cheat on your fiance
-making himself seem irresistable
-hubristic
“i became at once the most important person in her life- you understand?”
“you understand?”
normalising his cheating and emotional neglect of sheila- his fiance
-saying she was “young” and “pretty” is once again justifiying his act of adultery
-ultimately misogynistic
-priestley is using gerald to explore how men viewed their wives and relationships in the 1900s, and how many committed acts of adultery whilst using ‘beauty’ to justify it
-also seen when mr birling says ‘I’m not defending him. But you must understand that a lot of young men-‘ he’s justifying Gerald’s behaviour as acceptable.
“she was young and pretty and warm-hearted- and intensely grateful”
“young” and “pretty”
- objectifying women
- judgemental on appearance
- superficial and misogynistic
“warm-hearted”
- he used this to exploit her as he knew she would struggle to refuse the man who gave her shelter
- he is using these words to cover up how he only found her easy to take advantage of
“intensely grateful”
- knows she is indebted to him
- in a subservient, and vulnerable position
- microcosm for how the bourgeoisie treated the proletariat
- they use their desperation and struggles to exploit them and keep themselves powerful
“as i’m rather more- upset- by this business that i probably appear to be- well. I’d like to be alone for a while- I’d be glad if you’d let me go.”
“business”
- abstract noun suggests he thinks of eva’s death as something to discard of
- dismissive
- something that can be easily sorted
- pragmatic
- objectifiyign her as “business” and not describing her as human being is euphemistic
- he is undermining how serious the situation is
- there is an irony in his desperate attempt to appear moral
- his language is making him slip up
“upset”
- puts on a facade to heighten his integrity
- trying to seem like a moral person
- he just wants sympathy and wants to decieve them as he doesn’t want to take responsibility
“if you’d let me go”
-again unable and not taking responisbility
“(Carefully, to the Inspector) I want you to understand that I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her. […] I didn’t ask for anything in return.”
“(Carefully […])”
- this adverb shows that he doesn’t want to expose himself
- he is being tactical so he doesn’t want to slip up
- not being impulsive because ultimately he knows he is guilty
“make love to her”
another example of euphemistic phrasing
-subtly making it seem more light-hearted than it actually is
-adding to the idea of how he is trying to decieve people
“for anything in return”
- trying to appear innocent or as a saint
- acting selfless or generous
- odd way of promoting socialist values
- but really he was just using her for his own gratification
