Love and Marriage Flashcards
Gerald & Sheila - L&M
G’s involvement with Eva/Daisy is foreshadowed at the beginning of act 1, when everything is still seemingly fine “Except for all last summer, when you never came near me”
Ring symbolises their marriage “I’ll never let it go out of my sight”
Dinner party was to celebrate their engagement, lighting is “pink and intimate” to express the cosy scene. “you be careful or i’ll start weeping” - shows she cares deeply for him
Conflict between them, and S ends up taking the ring back “I think you’d better take this with you” - doesn’t want involvement with him anymore, not just because of his cheating but the way he has reacted to her - possibly unsavoury feelings coming to light between them that they have been hiding.
They end on uncertainty “its too soon. I must think” despite the clashing between them - shows she still cares for him?
Debatable whether their marriage was set up by MrB for his own personal gain, so croft industries and his business can be “working together”
Gerald & Daisy - L&M
Unrequited love - relationship for his own ego, making him feel better as her saviour “I didnt feel about her as she felt about me”
“she told me she’d been happier than she’d ever been before”
Is unclear whether he really loved her - more likely that he loved the idea of her, having someone as his own personal mistress that relies on him and his money likely made him feel a sense of importance
“rather more - upset - by this business than i probably appear to be” - disjointed speech disrupted by dashes shows he is hurt/needs time to think about Eva’s role in his life.
“just to make it last longer” - Eva valued their involvement a lot more than G
Mr birling - L&M
Self-love is taken to the extreme with MrB (self-obsession/arrogance).
He is obsessed with how others view him because he loves social status and his business - willing to sacrifice/blame others to protect himself.
Feels like he knows better about class intricacies than MrsB although seh is his “social superior” “tell cook from me” “oh - come, come”
“you’re just the kind of son-in-law i always wanted”
“hard-headed practical man of business” - repeated multiple times, shows he has a high opinion of himself.
Needs to prove himself “next honours list” - stuck between loving himself and needing to prove how good he is to everyone else
Eric and Eva - L&M
Loveless marriage proposed by E in an attempt to save her - shows he does care/he harbours some understanding about class. Eva refuses, they do care for each other but it is not love.
“she didnt want me to marry her” “said i didn’t love her”
“In a way, she treated me - as if i were a child”
Feels he needs to marry and provide for her - traditional gender roles/class obsession even if he’s not aware of it - she doesnt want him to feel obligated
he stole “fifty pounds all told”
Mr & Mrs Birling - L&M
“social superior”
“Important men have to spend nearly all of their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to realise that, as i had”
