4 KEY QUOTES

• he means I'm getting hysterical now - gender


  hysteria was a diagnosis used to marginalise women - Gerald colloquially uses this to exercise his power and establish a higher status - also wishes to silence sheila so he can manipulate the situation to make himself seem less responsible
• she looked young and fresh and charming - gender


  'young' connotes innocence and vulnerability - predatorily as it introduces a rhetoric of consumption and abusing her vulnerable status - Gerald is acting on primal and lustful desires
• she didn't blame me at all. I wish to god she had now - guilt


  puts up facade of remorse to come across as respectable - temporarily seems to understand morality but later learn that he doesn't wish for any blame and still actively tries to deny himself responsibility at end of play - example of irony as audience later become aware that claims are false portraying him as deceitful
• young man about town - a pretty fortunate young man - older vs younger generation


  irony with repetition of adjective 'young' to describe Gerald - youth becomes associated with impression and adopting socialist views but Gerald fails to live up to this 'ideal' that Priestley proposes, reinforcing the disappointment the audience feel towards Geralds character while we almost forgive birling parents, as a result of their age it seems Gerald is more consciously adhering to tropes of capitalism