Character of Gerald

Through the political diatribe/didactical play, An Inspector Calls, Priestley presents Gerald as a construct to expose and criticise the supercilous attitude of the upper classes towards their inferior counterparts in the patriarchal society of 1912.  Although Gerald demonstrates his sympathy for Eva, he not only eventually leaves her but he also dismisses her case. Hence, as an allegorical play, Gerald acts as a metaphor that reinforces the ingrained moral flaws of upperclass

"Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy, well-bred, young man-about-town"

• 'Young' contrasts 'about thirty'. This suggests Gerald's irresponsiblity and reckless approach to life/serious matters --> Hence foreshadowing his immature way of concealing his 1) infidelity with Sheila , 2) affair with Eva
• Triplet Presents him as a stereotypically sophisticated and attractive man,  but it also subtly hints at his predatory nature towards women - a common quality in the patriarchs of 1912's Edwardian society

Priestley immediately presents Gerald as an evasive man who desperately tries to escape his fiance Sheila's persistent questioning on why 'all last summer..you never came near me' to which he replies And I’ve told you – I was awfully busy at the works all that time. P.3

The presence of a dash hints at Gerald's uneasiness; thus foreshadowing his affair.  Whilst The adverb 'awfully' suggests how he wishes to dismiss the memory of his affair as it seems rather repulsive to him.

Although this hints at his regret, his desire to forget about the 'scandal'  arguably suggests his irresponsibility as he doesn't wish to accept his faults and the conseuqences as to not ruin his reputation  

Priestley foregrounds how corrupt marriage is in the upperclass as it's based on business rather than love, which is why he hides his affair rather than admitting to Sheila as this marriage is a business oppurtunity to merge Crofts Limited and Birlings

'After all, y'know, we're respectable citizens and not criminals' P.22

Gerald's statement ' ' reflects the attitude of the upperclasses in 1912 who superciliously viewed themselves as morally and socially superior. And that only the inferior classes were capable of making mistakes

• This foreshadows the fact that they're all involved in the 'chain of events'/He does the most morally reprehensible thing to her

The phrase 'y'know' depicts Gerald's superiority complex as he believes the Inspector should know he's 'respectable'. Ironically, this 'respectability' only stems from his social status

"I don't come into this suicide business" P.26

Priestley employs dramatic irony to elicit the ignorance and flawed credibility of the upperclass.

Moreover, the noun 'business' may refer to a scandalous event and this dehumanises Eva and belittles the plight she went through

To sum up, Priestley demonstrates how Gerald's self-confidence -- that his innocence is unquestionable-- eventually gets shattered and this warns the 1945 audience against rejecting social responsibility.

"I told that girl...She'd better let me take her out of here"

"the girl"- Dismissive tone. She's young and can easily be exploited

"She'd better let me"- Threat. If she refuses, she'd be forced to be with men with an 'old carcass' like Meggarty. He manipulates her into having a relationship with him in return for safety yet claims it's an accident 'I didn't ask for anything in return' . This reinforces Priestley's critism on the patriarchal society that preys on vulnerable women

Gerald's language is troubling to the audience as his use of the verb 'install' in ' I didn't install her there so that I could make love to her' presents Eva as a machine/equipment that can be manipulated as Gerald sees fit. P.37

Moreover, Gerald's mysogynystic self is reflected through "I hate those hard eyed, dough faced women' as he attacks the apperances of lowerclass women which is quite ironic as he uses one, Eva, as his mistress. This reinforces how Gerald, like other upperclass men of 1912, is only obsessed with the superficial appearances of women for they were seen as objects of possession. 

He only notices Eva because she was 'fresh and charming', presenting him as vain, hypocrite and sexist. P35/36. He arguably preys on the youth whom he could corrupt and turn 'hard eyed'. 

'Install' conveys his dominance over her

"A friend of mine.. had gone off to Canada for six months and had let me have the key of a nice little set of rooms" P.36-37

The use of the adjective 'nice' hints at Gerald's sexual overtures towards Eva. He finds it 'nice' as it gives him an oppurtunity for 'infidelity' and to 'install love' 

Priestley criticises the upperclass men of 1912 who viewed every relationship as an oppurtunity to sexually exploit women- subtly hinting that Sheila is the next victim of gerald's exploitation as Gerald justifies his act by conveying that

Gerald may have done an act of good of sheltering Eva. However in fact, he's guilty of lust as he exploited the vulnerable Eva and his act of breaking off with her extinguished Eva's last gleam of hope 

'Daisy Renton'- She knows she's being rented, yet accepts it in return for protection/the comfort of love?

The inspector isn't as harsh on Gerald as on the Birlings as Gerald 'had some affection for her and made her happy' which reflects the Edwardian society views that affairs were acceptable given that there wasn't a scandal. This along with Sheila's saying to Gerald 'at least you've been honest..you helped her at first. Just out of pity' 

Considering Priestley's concrete distaste for the mysogynistic patirarchy of 1912, and the fact that the Inspector acts as Priestey's proxy/mouthpiece, this scene is quite ironic, and may subtly hint at Priestley's shame- that he himself may have been a victim of the 'mysogynistic patriarchal view' back then. On the other hand, this scene may mirror Priestley's moral outrage at Gerald's affair, specifically the lies of the upper class as Sheila accepts this 'honesty' because the patriarchal society conditioned her to accept infidelity in return for financial security and social status.

Gerald appears to be genuinely remorsed by his affair with Eva and the plight that she has succumbed when he says 'I'm rather more – upset – by this business'// I wish to God she blamed me' P.39 But he may also be just pretending as seen in 'than I appear'??

This is reinforced by the presence of dashes (--) which perhaps elicit his mental breakdown as he recollects his affair with Eva, and this evokes sympathy the audience that Gerald will align himself with the younger generation and 'accept responsibility'

However, this 'false hope' gets shattered as in the end he aligns himself with the capitalist and dismissive perspective of Mr Birling. This is evident through the assertive language Everything's all right now, Sheila as he dismisses the case simply because he believes that Inspector was fake P.71

This solidifies Priestley's view that the older generation are far 'too ingrained with societal norms' to embrace a change as they value self gain and reputation over justice??

Gerald's act of lying that there's 'no proof it was the same photograph and no proof it was the same girl contradicts the fact that many of the minute details Eva told to Gerald 'she had to leave after a strike "She said something about THE shop too" fit exactly with the details given by other characters.    P.67/36

Moreover, the use of the determiner 'the' strongly hints at the 2nd shop that Eva worked at, Milwards, hence conveying the strong possibility that the girl in the different photographs is actually same, contrary to Gerald's statement.

By gradually portraying Gerald in a negative light - contrary to his 'attractive' stage direction- Priestley persuades the 1912 audience to reject the sophistry and ignorance of the upper class

Overall, through the cyclical structure of the play as an Inspector returns, Priestley foregrounds the consequences of dismissing social responsibility through the character of a Gerald.   A man, who despite his free will to accept and change, has prized his reputation and superior status over sincerly acknowledging his wrongdoings to Eva and Sheila, eventually perpetuating the consequences which he so desperately sought to escape from

GRADE 9 POINT

Just like how Birling is interrupted in the middle of his capitalist speech by the Inspector's ring. Once Gerald says 'what about this ring', the phone rings, another Inspecor arrives and another death has occured. This symbolises the return of WWII- the final consequence of patriachs denying responsibility for their wrong doings