gerald quotes Flashcards
1
Q
“The governor prides himself on being a good judge of port. I don’t pretend to know much about it.” “One of those purple-faced old men.”
A
- Immediately Gerald is linked with the government and landed gentry with his father being Sir Croft through the use of the word “governor”
- He is also deliberately linked with “port” and “purple-faced old men” which suggests that this is the kind of man Gerald will become. He will preserve wealth for his children instead of sharing it
- He also immediately is linked to deceit with the use of “pretend” which foreshadows Gerald’s sophistry and clever lies throughout the play
2
Q
“When you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do have to spend nearly all their time and energy on business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.”
A
- We see that marriage is financial recompense for infidelity, and Mrs Birling says she only got use to Mr Birling’s absences once they were married, so we can actually see that women in the upper classes are being just as exploited as Eva, only they get paid much more for it
- We also assume that Gerald is marrying Sheila for love, however we discover that he has been absent from her over summer. Therefore it is likely that Gerald is only marrying Sheila for potential business opportunities, which Mr Birling references and Gerald agrees with, reply “Hear, Hear!”
3
Q
“Well, it came just at the right moment. That was clever of you Gerald.” “You can drink to me.”
A
- We see that Gerald is exceptionally vain, and this line symbolically represents how women were forced to celebrate the patriarchy in 1912 as the only route to influence or power is through marriage. This is why Sybil tells Sheila she must put up with Gerald’s infidelity
“Just as I had.” Upper class men simply have affairs and women even advised other women to put up with it - Mrs Birling’s comment suggests that Gerald was presenting the ring at the right moment in order to ease Sheila as it serves as financial recompense for his infidelity through the contract of marriage
4
Q
“So she had to go…You couldn’t have done anything else.”
A
- When Birling claims Eva had to be sacked for leading a strike, Gerald immediately agrees. There is no empathy in this view, he simply has to protect the profit of the business, even if it is unfair to the workforce. He even observes the workers would be “broke” because they had just had their holidays, so he does not care that a week off in an English seaside town would completely wipe out their savings
- This indicates Gerald as the future face of capitalism, along with likely be the Conservative MPs in 1945 who Priestley is aiming to vote against and incite anger against
5
Q
“After all, y’know, we’re respectable citizens and not criminals…Sometimes there isn’t as much difference as you think…Fortunately it isn’t left to you, is it?”
A
- Gerald confronts the Inspector from the start, telling him that he is also being a bit “heavy handed.” He then says this quote, his several affectations beforehand suggesting he is actually not believing this himself. He also says that their actions are not immoral and not exploiting workers, but only not illegal
- Priestley makes the point that it should be illegal, and that not paying enough is the same as paying enough and then stealing from their wages. Therefore the Inspector replies dubbing them as essentially “criminals.”
- Gerald then doesn’t disagree with it, but simply points out that all upper classes are able to get away with it, and the patronising “is it?” Suggests a confidence that they will continue doing so, similar to how the Conservatives believed they were sure to win the next election
6
Q
“I happened to look in…It’s a favourite haunt of women of the town.”
A
- It has been established that Gerald’s first instinct is to lie and practice in sophistry so we as an audience are immediately distrustful of his account of the affair. He uses a passive voice here to suggest he didn’t go specifically for prostitutes, but we immediately believe that he did go there for prostitutes.
7
Q
“She looked young and fresh and charming..Old Joe Meggarty, half drunk and goggle-eyed had wedged her into a corner with that obscene fat carcass of his-“
A
- We are also introduced to the semantic field of death and this is key as it suggests that when Eva meets Gerald, she is in the presence of death. We could argue, this is when she is doomed. Gerald’s sexual exploitation of Eva could potentially be a wider allegory for the capitalist exploitation too. We see that first, capitalists exploit their desperation, create an illusion they are doing workers a favour and then ultimately, the workers die.
- Gerald does not speak of her beauty, what attracts him more is youth and innocence which are qualities that make her easy to exploit. He also makes notice that the “charming” aspect of her personality is her compliance with Meggarty so she will definitely go for the younger and more attractive Gerald.
- Priestley makes the point that women in 1945 should not comply with the patriarchy
8
Q
“Told the girl that if she didn’t want anymore of that sort of thing, she’d let me take her out of there.”
A
- He presents leaving with him as an exchange. The use of “the girl.” Suggests she is not an individual person but is simply a young and vulnerable girl who he can exploit for sex
- He juxtaposes “want” with “let me take” to suggest he has an exchange in mind whilst not directly asking for sex
9
Q
“I didn’t install her there so I could make love to her”
A
- His language reveals she is an object to him to bought and sold. It is also ironically true that he didn’t “make love to her” as there was no love involved on his part
10
Q
“Everything’s all right now, Sheila. What about this ring?”
A
- We can see this as proof none of them will live by the Inspector’s lesson as when Gerald asks about “the ring” the telephone will echo his words with “this ring.” He even constructs Gerald to show the ring. We are made to associate this question with the ringing of the telephone. We see through Gerald’s words that he has learnt absolutely nothing; if his wealth is protected and there is no “public scandal”, “everything” is “all right.”
11
Q
“She didn’t blame me at all. I wish to God she had now.”
A
- There is a sense of genuine remorse in Gerald’s words along with self-blame. This encourages the audience to feel sympathy for him and the audience begins to believe that Gerald will align himself with The Inspector which is particularly exciting as he is a member of a very high social class and has the power and contacts to make change, but this is squandered when he does everything he can to prove The Inspector is a fake. Like the older generation, he aims to avoid a “public scandal” and instead protects his own wealth and image
- Priestley encourages the audience to sympathise with Gerald in hope that he (and the aristocracy he represents) will become a better person. When this fails to happen, the disappointed audience condemns him and his attitude towards Eva, and by default, towards vulnerable members of society. Through Gerald, Priestley presents the aristocracy as self-interested people who, instead of sharing their wealth, are more likely to follow family tradition of preserving it for the next generation
