Character

Analysis:
Gerald Croft
Gerald
Gerald Croft represents the aristocracy - the highest class of society, comprised of rich landowners and people who inherit their
wealth from their parents. His father, Sir George Croft, owns Crofts Limited, and his mother is called Lady Croft, which indicates that
she holds a peerage.

When he learns of Eva Smith's sacking from Mr Birling's factory, Gerald sides with Mr Birling. Unlike Mr Birling, though, Gerald does
show some regret for his actions. The Inspector, during his closing speech, points out that Gerald displayed at least some affection
towards Eva (in contrast to Eric, who used her "like an animal, a thing and not a person").Ultimately, though, when Eva's death turns
out to be a hoax, Gerald is more relieved than repentant.

Both audiences could be disillusioned by the fact that Gerald had decided to side with the elderly Birlings at the end of the play
despite the initial traces of responsibility he felt during his interrogation. When Gerald’s interrogation had finished, he states that he
needs to “walk about- for a while”. This implies that Geralds need some time to retrospect on his actions towards Eva. The audience
may empathise with Gerald as he did at least show some affection towards Eva and needs to “[take] it in properly that [Eva] is dead”.
Model A* in which to build your responses
In his didactic play ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley presents Gerald, and the upper class as a whole, to be extremely callous and unwilling to accept the opportunity for
redemption. He explores themes and ideologies such as patriarchy in order to excoriate those (namely the zenith of society) for living protected in an ‘ivory tower’ of
wealth, luxury and, most significantly, denial. The methods used by Priestley to do all of this encourages the audience in a contemporary society to look at
themselves with an inverted eye and strive for equality.

In Gerald, an ’easy well-bred young man-about-town’, we see a wealthy aristocrat who perpetuates the patriarchal ideology followed by many in 1912, the time in
which play was set. One example of this is when the Inspector points out that he thinks ‘young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing
things’, to which he agrees. Here, we can look closely at the connotations of the adjectives ‘unpleasant’ and ‘disturbing’ which convey the image of perturbing and
unsettling events. By saying that young women should be ‘protected’ against such things, Gerald is perhaps adopting the common Edwardian view that women are
incapable of coping or dealing with them. The Inspector satirises the hypocrisy in Gerald’s argument and points out that Eva Smith wasn’t protected against
‘unpleasant and disturbing things’. We might get the idea from this that Gerald believes bourgeoisie women should be looked after yet the proletariats should not.
Priestley could be encouraging the audience to look at this view from a feminist’s perspective which may argue that women are just as capable as men in coping with
atrocities. We also see how Gerald treats women when Sheila asks if the engagement ring he presented her with was the ‘one you wanted me to have?’. In this
instance, the pronoun ‘you’ paired with the verb ‘wanted’ shows us how Sheila cares about and values Gerald’s desires. Because of this, one might argue that Sheila
is showing herself to be both passive and submissive, allowing Gerald to be the decision maker. At a time when women’s suffrage was high, Priestley may have used
the relationship between Gerald and Sheila to support women in, instead of abiding to their so-called ‘social superior’, breaking free from such ideologies.
Model A* in which to build your responses
Another thing we see in Gerald is that he actually cared for Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. He arguably viewed himself as heroic when saving her from Alderman
Meggarty. He says that she gave him a glance ‘that was nothing less than a cry for help’. Here, the noun ‘cry’ is symbolic of distress and the noun ‘help’ represents
the susceptibility of Daisy. Gerald may be trying to say that he was being nothing less than a hero, or a ‘wonderful fairy prince’ as Sheila puts it. The idea that Gerald
truly cared for Daisy continues to emerge when he describes her. He says she’s ‘young, fresh and charming’. Here, the lexical field choice of positive and desirable
characteristics shows us how Gerald saw Eva herself as desirable. He had feelings for her and didn’t intend to harm her. Alternatively, it could perhaps be said that
he was just using her as a source for his amusement. Yes, he looked after her when she needed to be due to her vulnerability, but he soon abandoned her,
reinforcing the power men had over women. Priestley, in this case, criticises such behaviour. We continue to see Gerald’s feelings for Eva when he states
‘(distressed) Sorry – I well, suddenly realised – taken it in properly – that she’s dead’. Here, the stage direction ‘distressed’ connotes to fragility and vulnerability. We
get the sense that Gerald is genuinely upset by what has happened and this prompts the audience to experience some sympathy for Gerald. The audience might
begin to wonder if Gerald does, in fact, possess morality and is willing to accept responsibility for his actions.

However, this idea is undermined when we reach the end of the play. In fact, Gerald is the first to point out the possibility of the whole evening being a ‘hoax’. We get
the idea that Gerald strongly believes that what he’d just experienced was just a practical joke. Perhaps Gerald is in denial and doesn’t want to face what he has
done. By him presenting such a theory with relief, the audience may wonder if Gerald really did care for Daisy or if he, like questioned beforehand, just used her for
his own amusement. This suggestion continues to emerge when Gerald, again, offers Sheila the engagement ring whilst saying ‘everything’s alright now’. Here,
‘alright’ connotes to being normal by thinking that ‘everything’ is so, we get the idea that Gerald is more concerned about getting caught than accepting responsibility
for what he has done. This, of course, is a moral dilemma and leads us to question if everything is ‘alright’ if nobody realises your mistakes. Priestley obviously thinks
not and encourages the audience to disregard this belief too. He could be arguing that anyone with morals would be concerned about what they had done, thus
making the audience lose any sympathy they had for Gerald up to this point. However, characters like Mr and Mrs Birling do agree with Gerald which makes the
audience perhaps view capitalism, which the older generation in the play follow, as callous.

In conclusion, Gerald’s significance to ‘An Inspector Calls’ is to excoriate the capitalist and patriarchal views held by many in 1912.
“An attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town”

“Well, it came just at the right moment. That was clever of you, Gerald.” “

“You couldn’t have done anything else” (sacking Eva Smith)

“After all, y’know, we’re respectable citizens and not criminals” (about Sheila):

“She’s obviously had about as much as she can stand” “Why should you [stay]? It’s bound to be unpleasant and disturbing”

“It’s a favourite haunt of women of the town” ‘

[Daisy] gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help”

“I insisted on Daisy moving into these rooms and I made her take some money to keep her going there…I want you to understand that I didn’t install her
there so I could make love to her…I was sorry for her…I didn’t ask for anything in return”

“She was young and pretty and warm-hearted- and intensely grateful. I became at once the most important person in her life

'Everything's alright now Sheila. [holds up the ring] what about this ring?'

Inspector: 'had some affection for her and made her happy for a time.'
“I noticed a girl who looked quite different. She was very pretty”
“I became at once the most important person in her life”
 "You're just the kind of son in law I always wanted" -Mr. Birling
Gerald is described as an ‘attractive man about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy’, who is son of Lord and Lady Croft, and presumably the
sole inheritor of the Crofts Limited. He represents the aristocracy, and is the individual who seems to be of the highest class out of all the others in
the room. In the epilogue of the play , Gerald is described as the ‘easy well-bred man about town’. As well as this quote illustrating that Gerald is
Mr Birling’s view of an idealistic ‘son’ as both their perceptions on politics, capitalism, complement each other, it could also perhaps subtly hint to
the audience that Birling is disillusioned on Eric’s personality and outlook on life as he was unable to craft Eric into a successful sculpture of a
‘utopian son’ who is consumed by Capitalism and materialistic gain, implying that Gerald’s personality is a paragon (exemplar) of what Eric would
have turned out if Birling was successful in this.
However this quote could also still show Birling’s greed with the avarice terminology such as the possessive pronouns ‘I’ paired with the
self-seeking verb ‘wanted’ suggesting to the audience that Birling is just content with the concept of the Crofts Limited and Birling and Co merging
together for “lower costs and higher prices”.

As Gerald and Mr Birling both supplement each other's personality, one could suggest that Gerald is also a representation of ‘greed’ in the
seven deadly sins. Yet later within the play in ‘more light’ is brought to how Gerald could also represent lust and desire, also unfavourable traits,
yet his actions give him the opportunity to repent and separate from marinating the capitalist stance that Mr Birling does.

Priestly could have done this to create tension with the audience and subtly hint at the perturbed parental relationship between Eric and
his father.
 Inspector : ‘young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things’.

Perhaps Gerald perpetuates the patriarchal ideology that many Edwardian men acquired in 1912. Here, the Inspector points out that he thinks ‘young women ought
to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things’, to which Gerald agrees. Here, we can look closely at the connotations of the adjectives ‘unpleasant’ and
‘disturbing’ which convey the image of perturbing and unsettling events. By saying that young women should be ‘protected’ against such things, Gerald is perhaps
adopting the common Edwardian view that women are incapable of coping or dealing with them or would turn ‘hysterical’ if exposed to such commodities. The
Inspector satirises the hypocrisy in Gerald’s argument and points out that Eva Smith wasn’t protected against ‘unpleasant and disturbing things’. Gerald also states
that “[Sheila’s] obviously had about as much as she can stand” We might get the idea from this that Gerald believes bourgeoisie women should be looked after yet
the proletariats should not, which not only highlights Geralds hypocrisy, but also division between the affluent and less affluent members of society. Priestley could be
encouraging the audience to look at this view from a feminist’s perspective which may argue that women are just as capable as men in coping with atrocities and that
Sheila has a right to hearing what Gerald had been up to last summer. Additionally, the fact that Gerald is speaking for Sheila, could suggest that he is projecting his
emotions unto Sheila, or even more so, suggests that he perhaps acknowledges his dire actions and is ashamed of his actions of infidelity towards her.
‘I don’t come into this suicide business.’
Priestley has used dramatic irony in this statement with Gerald with the intended purpose to foreshadow to the audience that each character has a
personal contribution to Eva’s suicide and to also foreshadow that Gerald is in fact wrong and that he most definitely contributed to the death of
Eva and they would most likely start to acquire the inclination that each character has their own part to play in the death of the girl, they are not
so absent from her as they were at the beginning of the play, and their perspective will be brought to light. The fact that Gerald is in denial over his
actions driving someone to suicide unravels his hidden ignorant nature. The language used by Gerald as the beginning of the play is adherent (supportive)
to Mr Birling’s as he references the demise of a girl, depicted to him by the inspector as a brutal death that ‘burnt her inside out’, as ‘business’. As long as it
doesn’t affect him he believes that, like Mr Birling, it is not his problem. This further highlights the more than present likeness of both characters. The language is
flippant and disrespectful of the situation, would could perhaps indicate his vast animosity (strong hostility)towards the lower class. The shortness of the claim
by Gerald shows again how he disregards anything that seemingly doesn’t directly concern him, and how through the short structure is demonstrating that he
has voiced his involvement and nothing else will be said on the matter, there is almost an instructive undertone. The shortness of the claim by Gerald shows
again how he disregards anything that seemingly doesn’t directly concern him, and how through the short structure is demonstrating that he has voiced his
involvement and nothing else will be said on the matter.
"I went down into the bar for a drink. It's a favourite haunt of women of the town“
Here Gerald has used the euphemism in ‘haunt of women’ to mask his true intentions. ‘Women of the town’ are prostitutes, maybe Gerald's
intentions for being at ‘the bar for a drink’ wasn’t as it seems and his motives were sexually driven, again displaying his role as ‘lust’ as a seven
deadly sin. It is evident that Gerald has so far attempted to conceal the truth from them, yet here the pause between the two sections of the sentence suggests
that he has contemplated the consequences of telling yet another lie.

"She was young and pretty and warm-hearted - and intensely grateful."
Words such as ‘young’ and ‘pretty’ are the first words to come to his mind to describe her, like Sheila he values semblance before emotive. This can further
backed up when Gerald states he “noticed a girl who looked quite different. This highlights that the exterior, outward appearance of females come into
his mind before their temperament. Priestley may have used Gerald as a dramatic device for the Edwardian men during 1912 who only treasured the
outermost appearance of a woman and their dispositions were often viewed as feeble compared to men. This can also be seen when Gerald agrees
with Mr Birling that “clothes” are a “sign or token” for a woman's “self-respect”. This quote does not only signify that clothing, and materialistic
appearances are the only attributes that men during the Edwardian Era viewed or even regarded a woman’s dignity from, but there is also a darker,
more obscure hidden conceptualization of how women were merely obliged to use their exterior appearances to obtain any respect or veneration
from Edwardian men. One could say that this concept could be seen when Sheila admires the ring, calling it a “beauty”.

The use of polysyndeton and lexical field of “young, pretty, warm-hearted” in the quote could that Gerald views Eva so positively that he can think of
so many positive elements towards her and this alludes to a loving and affectionate feelings to Eva. The structure, adding on the final adjective describes
how he cannot sum her up in words, to him she was something foreign and new.
[Daisy] gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help”
Another thing we see in Gerald is that he actually cared for Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. He arguably viewed himself as heroic when saving her from Alderman Meggarty. He
says that she gave him a glance ‘that was nothing less than a cry for help’. Here, the noun ‘cry’ is symbolic of distress and highlights Eva’s vulnerability and the noun ‘help’
represents the susceptibility of Daisy. Gerald may be trying to say that he was being nothing less than a hero and has genuine caring attitudes towards helping those in
need. In addition, the phrase “cry for help” evokes the imagery of a baby or a young child bawling for the signal of need or want for something. Therefore, this quote could
underline how Gerald was aroused to the common allotments of a child that Eva portrayed- naivety and vulnerability. Priestly could have done this t o demonstrate how
vulnerable and needy the proletarians were during the Edwardian Era but also using Gerald as a dramatic device to show how bourgeois Edwardian men exploited the
working class women who would desperately typically cling onto them due to their financial support .

“I became at once the most important person in her life”

There quote accentuates that there is definitely a extensive hidden agenda to Gerald helping Eva. Perhaps one could say that Gerald only aided Eva
because he saw a despairing and penurious (needy, poverty-stricken) woman who would most likely cling on to him for support. This could signify that this
is what Gerald wanted- a woman to assert his dominance and power on, typical traits of an Edwardian male in the patriarchal society at that time. Although
Gerald has claimed with the superlative “the most”, that Eva valued him abundantly, the audience never really know if this supposed statement is true. One
could suggest that the fact that Gerald became the most important person in Eva’s life could represent how Eva did not really have many people in her life
to begin with and this could constitute to how the masses in 1912 didn’t have much support or care for.
Did Gerald care for Eva?
It could be argued that on the one hand, Gerald in fact did really care for Eva. Gerald states ‘I’m rather more – upset – by this business than I
probably appear to be –’. But here, the idiom ‘actions speak louder than words’ could come into consideration. Gerald claims that he is “upset” by this business
but his demeanour suggests otherwise. Additionally, this phrase is fragmented and broken up indicating his emotion., however this could all be a show as as
stated before, has to verbally communicate this in his language as it might not be evident in his reaction.

Even the inspector claims that at least Gerald ‘Had some affection for her and made her happy for a time.’ The inspectors language is almost lenient towards
Gerald's actions, he truly believes his feelings for her and his actions were done out of good intention which contrasts to this description Eric’s actions towards
Eva who he sates used her like “an animal, a thing and not a person”. Gerald did ‘love her’ yet his blatant disregard for Sheila's feelings and the concept that he
was going to utilise a ‘women of the night’ suggests that he was going to abuse the power he had as a rich upper class man over the poor women, selling their
bodies to gain enough money to put food on the table. He will love when it suits him, showing his lack of sensitivity and his capitalist sentiments.

However, this idea of Gerald's care for Eva is undermined when we reach the end of the play. In fact, Gerald is the first to point out the possibility of the whole
evening being a ‘hoax’. We get the idea that Gerald strongly believes that what he’d just experienced was just a practical joke. Perhaps Gerald is in denial or possible
traumatisation and doesn’t want to face what he has done, using the idea of a practical joke to lightening the situation. By him presenting such a theory with relief, the
audience may wonder if Gerald really did care for Daisy or if he, like questioned beforehand, just used her for his own amusement.

This suggestion continues to emerge when Gerald, again, offers Sheila the engagement ring whilst saying ‘everything’s alright now’. Here, ‘alright’ connotes to being
normal by thinking that ‘everything’ is so, we get the idea that Gerald is more concerned about getting caught than accepting responsibility for what he has done.
This, of course, is a moral dilemma and leads us to question if everything is ‘alright’ if nobody realises your mistakes. Priestley obviously thinks not and encourages
the audience to disregard this belief too. He could be arguing that anyone with morals would be concerned about what they had done, thus making the audience lose
any sympathy they had for Gerald up to this point. However, characters like Mr and Mrs Birling do agree with Gerald which makes the audience perhaps view
capitalism, which the older generation in the play follow, as callous.
 ‘Every things alright now Sheila’
Like Mr Birling, Gerald thinks that simply because the inspector was a ‘hoax’ he can revolve back to acting how he was before. The structure of Gerald's attitude
and process of reformation through the play is critical. After claiming that he needs to “Walk About for a while” the audience may believe that Gerald has used
this time contemplate on his actions toward Eva, but instead of this, he decides to find out whether the inspector was real and is the one who proposed the idea
of the inspector being an hoax.
Following the structure of Freytag's Dramatic arc, each character has its own individual climax, Gerald's falling action, is perhaps the most prominent with a
moment of final suspense and doubt at if he is going to accept his actions for responsibility and side with ‘the famous younger generation’ or stick to the
capitalist sentiments of his new business partner. Like Mr Birling, Gerald wants everything to turn back to normal and return to being ‘the son in law’ Mr Birling
always wanted and to overlook the fact that he had been dishonest to Eva during the summer. He does this through offering Sheila back the ring, however she
declines. In a way she is declining to accept the way the lower class are being treated and instead takes a ‘revolution’ with the Inspector. For Sheila to accept him
he needs to not be the ‘son in law’ her father always wanted and adapt his attitude and responsibilities to see that the way he acted, whilst was possibly the best
out of all the characters, was still not acceptable. However he does not accept his morale responsibilities, which he will eventually learn in ‘fire and blood and
anguish’