Gerald Croft Flashcards
The stage directions describe Gerald as “the easy,well bred young man about town”
What does this suggest
-a fashionable socialite
-the produce of Edwardian society work in Gerald’s favour,they make life easy for him
-the concept of status is presented as inhumane as “well bred” is reminiscent of pedigree dogs or racehorses
In response to mr hurlings capitalist suggestion Gerald replied with
“Hear,hear! And I think my father would agree to that”
-desolates gerald as supportive of capitalist values with the preoccupation of maximising profits
-Gerald references to mother and father throughout act 1,this could lead the audience to question whether Gerald’s worldview is merely a product of his upbringing and thus he is almost presented as a victim of his society
“She diddnt blame me at all.I wish to god she had now”
-façade of remorse
-temporarily understands morality and responsibility but this is shut down later in the play where he doesn’t want any blame and is actively trying to deny himself any blame
“Everything’s all right now Shelia (holds up the ring) what about this ring?”
-he wants to rid himself of responsibility by erasing the events of the evening
-metonymy of “ring” exposes his capitalist and materialistic views
-he seems less emotionally invested in the marriage then at the start
What were priestlys intentions with Gerald
-Bridge the gap between the two generations
-criticism of the upper class
-vilify sexist or misogynistic views
gerald quotes
-“Everything’s all right now Shelia (holds up the ring) what about this ring?”
-“She didn’t blame me at all.I wish to god she had now”
-“Hear,hear! And I think my father would agree to that”
-“the easy,well bred young man about town”
how does geralds perceptions show sophistry
-gerald gets eva drunk before meeting him,pretending he cares for her
-eva tells gerald details that match what the birlings already know however he still tries to pretend that they were all different girls
-priestly wants us to be critical of geralds argument that it doesn’t matter
why did gerald let eva live in the house
-he wanted eva to be in a house for sexual exploitation and booted her out and gave her an allowance
gerald as a symbol of capitalism
-gerald is the real face of capitalism in 1945
-he is too old to fight and exploted the war for money
-he would also have been running this company through both of the wars
-gerald is deceitful and priestly wants us to reject his capitalist ideal
