Gerald Flashcards
Gerald’s character
Priestly uses his play an inspector calls as a political diatribe critiquing society and more specifically capitalism as an ideology.
His play is allegorical and therefore Gerald acts as a metaphor representing a hybrid of different themes like materialism, lust, capitalism
‘I don’t come into this suicide business’
Gerald aligns himself with Mrs berlin when he dehumanises lower class women The literal utilisation of the noun business implies that daisy is a profession or trade to make profit from and is vocabulary associated with manufacturing or enterprise
‘I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her’
Semantic field of office work
Verb install makes Daisy sound like equipment to be used and manipulated as Gerald sees fit
This verb literally means ‘to place in position’ and this has a negative almost debase connotations when linked to sexual desire
‘I hate those hard eyed dough face women’
Gerald attacks the appearance of the lower class woman which seems ironic as he uses one as his mistress and the capitalist forms of exploitation where the reason these woman aged terribly The verb hate emphasises his obsession with appearance which is fitting for a birling family obsessed with their public name
‘(In a low troubled voice)’
As play progresses Gerald disappoints the audience as we hope he has learned the errors of his ways
For this fleeting moment the adjective troubled suggests that he is emotionally described by his own role in the suicide
Priestley stage directions also support this notation ‘gravely’ ‘hesitantly’ we think he can dispel the boundaries between the two classes
