Gerald Croft

Character Summary: Overview

• Heir of a wealthy family

• Birlings social superior

• Sheilas fiancé

• Had an affair with Eva but abandoned her

Character Summary: Key Characteristics

• Amiable and polite

• Hypocritical

• Wealthy

• Rejects responsibility

Character Summary: Role

• Occupying a moral middle ground between the younger and older generations

• Initially seems to accept the Inspectors socialist message

• Ultimately sides with Mr and Mrs Birling

Character Summary: Themes

• Capitalism vs Socialism

• Guilt

• Responsibility

• Gender

What does Gerald Symbolise? - Upper Classes

• “An easy well-bred young man-about-town”

  • Represents the upper classes who are ignorance of the hardships faced by the poorest in society

What does Gerald Symbolise? - Son of Wealthy Capitalists

• Mr Birlings eagerness to impress Geralds family reflects the importance of social status and the capitalist drive for wealth and success

What does Gerald Symbolise? - Power of Men over Women

• Relationship with Eva represents power men have over women in 1912

  • Keeps Eva in a friends house to have an affair with her then abandons her

Language Analysis: Symbolism

• Engagement ring he gives Sheila demonstrates how easily he uses his wealth to get his way

  • He gives Sheila the ring to prevent her suspicion

  • He believes at the end he can regain her affection with the same ring

    • Fails to understand Sheilas changed perspective

Language Analysis: Emotive Language

• Geralds description of Eva is full of emotive language

  • Suggesting she has genuine affection for him

• His description of Evas ‘cry for help’ frames his actions as heroic

  • He is justifying his treatment of her

“I dont come into…

this suicide business”

“I dont come into this suicide business”

• Act One

• Reveals arrogance and upper classes entitlement

• Trying to avoid taking responsibility

• Dehumanises the situation by calling it ‘business‘

  • Exposes his capitalist mindset and how easily he reduces vulnerable situations

• Dramatic Irony: foreshadows Geralds actual involvement

  • His initial denial is very quickly proven wrong

• Shows how the upper classes operate in a bubble

  • Tries to sweep it away

  • Believes consequences dont apply to him

“We’re respectable citizens…

and not criminals”

“We’re respectable citizens and not criminals”

• Act One

• Exposes the moral hypocrisy and false sense of superiority

• Obsession with public image and social status

  • Believes wealth and status makes a person morally superior

• ‘Not criminals’: exposes classists bias

  • Assumes criminality is a straight trait of the lower classes

  • Ignoring the fact that his and the Birlings exploitative actions ruined Evas life

“Everything’s all right now Sheila [Holds up the ring]…

What about this ring?”

“Everything’s alright now Sheila. [Holds up the ring] What about this ring?”

• Act Three

• Highlights the clash between the older and younger generations

  • Reverts back to his old selfish ways

  • Sheila realises the reality of the situation, even if the Inspector wasn’t real, what he did to Eva was

• Patriarchal dynamic: Gerald assumes he can easily dismiss Sheilas emotional intelligence and restore their traditional dynamic

• Catalyst for Sheilas development

  • Geralds attempt to return the ring disgusts her and she rejects him and the uncaring capitalist society

“I didn’t install her there so that I could…

make love to her…I was sorry for her”

“I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her…I was sorry for her”

• Act Two

• ‘Install’ implies he treated Eva like an object, set up at his convenience

• Highlights stark power imbalance between the upper class Gerald and the working class Eva who became dependent on him for basic survival

• Critiques the Edwardian upper class

  • Tries to project the idea of a respectable gentleman

• Exposes his emotional detachment

  • Views the affair as temporary, materialistic transaction, highlighting his lack of true social and moral responsibility

Character Development: Act One

• Friendly and polite but clearly privileged

  • Seems at ease with the Birling family

  • Respectful to Mr Birling despite class disparity

  • Beliefs are aligned with Mr Birlings capitalist views

  • Supports Mr Birling sacking Eva

Character Development: Act Two

• Feels guilt for his role in the death of Eva/Daisy

  • Admits to having an affair while engaged to Sheila

  • Seems to accept Sheilas decision to end their engagement

  • Appears to have experience with prostitues

  • Clearly used his power over Eva to get what he wanted from her

  • Deeply upset by her death and steps outside to reflect

Character Development: Act Three

• Fails to learn his lesson

  • Worries about the damage to his reputation

  • Investigates the Inspectors identity

  • Overjoyed at the possibility of Evas death being a hoax

  • Doesn’t understand why the Inspector had such an impact on Eric and Sheila

  • Attempts to give Sheila the ring back

  • Punished for his moral failure by the finale phone call

Character Interpretations: Gender and Sexual Power

• Possibly the least blameworthy

  • Was selfish but not cruel

  • Genuinely concerned for her wellbeing

  • Framed himself as a protector, clearly showing he knew his social and sexual power over her

  • Abuses this power to ‘install’ Eva where he could ‘make love to her’

  • Discards her when he gets bord

    • Emphasises the powerlessness in their relationship

    • Gave Eva money as a parting gift

    • Fails to understand he broke Evas heart

  • Treats Sheila in a similar fashion, hoping an engagement ring will be enough to heal their relationship

  • His materialism reflects the broader criticism of the upper classes who believe they can act however they want without consequences