Gerald Analysis

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Role of Gerald and Link to the Birlings

At the start of the play, Gerald is engaged to Sheila despite his parents disapproving of the match. He represents the selfish upper class.

At the start of the play, Gerald is engaged to Sheila Birling.
Gerald is from an upper-class family who do not approve of him marrying Sheila (who is upper middle class).
They declined the invitation to his engagement dinner with the Birlings.
Gerald’s family’s business will also use the marriage to link Birling’s company with Croft Limited.

Although he is also one of the younger generation, he still represents the selfish upper class.
Unlike Sheila and Eric, Gerald represents the people who will be left in charge of society if people don’t take more responsibility for their actions.

He gave Eva money and arranged for her to live in his friend’s lodgings (home), where she became his mistress (a woman who has a sexual relationship with a married man).
She was grateful for his help, and for the attention he gave her.
He decided when the affair ended, and then he moved on – he did not love her but felt sorry for her.

Gerald is obsessed with reputation and does not show remorse.

At the start of the play, we see him acting very much like Mr Birling. They sit together and chat about business and about how people should only be responsible for themselves and their families.

Gerald understands how important the Birlings’ reputations are to them. He tells Mr Birling that he could never imagine a family like theirs being involved in any sort of scandal.
Gerald seems to put a lot of effort into protecting his own reputation, status and interests.
- For example, pretending not to know Eva/Daisy as he knows his affair would spoil his reputation.
This is the opposite of Sheila, who uses the opportunity to learn from her mistakes and changes herself.

When he is confronted about his relationship with Eva/Daisy, he pretends not to know her – he knows that his actions were wrong, and that his affair would hurt both Eva and Sheila. So he tries to cover it up.
In Act 3, Gerald returns to the home to tell the family that Inspector Goole was not a real police inspector. Like Mr and Mrs Birling, he doesn’t think he needs to feel any remorse if Goole was not a real police officer. This is because his reputation can’t be hurt.

By the end of the play, Gerald has also not changed at all. He works hard to prove that the Inspector was a fake.
He concludes that they can dismiss the whole evening (he does not learn anything, which is why Sheila is unsure about taking the ring back).
- Is this why they get a second visit from a real police inspector? Does Inspector Goole act as a warning, which they do not take?

Gerald represents the selfish and stubborn attitudes of the upper classes. Priestley uses Gerald as a warning to society.

Like the older Birlings, Gerald acts as a warning from Priestley about what could happen if men like Gerald dictate the future of society.
He comes across as nice, charming and almost caring, but he actually does not care about individuals at all.

Priestley suggests that upper-class men only want to protect themselves.
- He suggests that they may pretend to offer support and encouragement to lower-class people, but ultimately will do things to benefit only themselves.
Gerald represents oppression (cruel treatment) from upper-class individuals who can jump through loopholes to avoid any sort of social responsibility.