Gerald

• Gerald [Responsibility] - "Where did you get the idea that I did know her?

  • adopts a defensive tone as he questions the inspector.
  • Tries to take control as he, an upper class man would be used to having it.
• Gerald [Responsibility] - "Sorry - I - well , ive suddenly realised - taken it in properly - that shes dead"

  • Gerald delayed reaction to her death is diluted with hyphens as this stammered and staggered speech shows the overwhelming sadness he feels.
  • There is internal conflict within Gerald, between his natural emotional reaction and his attempt to suppress and feminine emotion that he shows, as he has to remain masculine
• Gerald [Responsibility] - "Leave after a strike" // "said something about the shop too"

  • shows that he knows it was the same girl despite later suggesting that "there's still now proof if was really the same girl"
  • He is trying to excuse his own behaviour and also convince himself that he is innocent.
• Gerald [Responsibility] - [in response to Birling's sacking of Eva] - "Yes , i think you were . I know we'd have done the same thing"

  • Geralds support for Mr Birling's convictions is necessary to uphold good relations
  • However, it could also means Gerald's true views is being a true capitalist.
• Gerald [Responsibility] - "He at least had some affection for her and made her happy for a time"

  • use of the noun affection and adjective happy shows that he had some kindness towards Eva, which separates him from the rest of the character
  • yet this interest was for his own benefit - shows the corruption of his power
• Gerald [appearance] - "[easy well bred young man-about-town]"

  • this idiomatic phrase suggests that Gerald is a fashionable socialite
  • alternatively, it could have plural connotations; perhaps, Priestley is foreshadowing the unfaithful nature of Gerald as he goes about the town
• Gerald [Capitalism] "I insisted // I made her take some money"

  • These are both monetary exchanges, rather than financial aid.
  • Disguising prostitution as charity
  • Imperatives bears connotations of power and force
• Gerald [Desire and Lust] - "she was pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes - [breaks off] My God!"

  • Use of aposiopesis (abrupt break off) after him describing her physical appearance suggests that Gerald was only attracter to Eva physically as he feels the greatest grief from this
• Gerald [Desire and Lust] - "a pretty girl in her early twenties" // "looked young and fresh and charming"

  • adjective young and adverb early help to suggest that she is younger than Gerald
  • Shows that Gerald is attracted to her youth
• Gerald [Desire and Lust] - "young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there"

  • Incorporates a predatory description of Eva using a polysyndeton of adjectives with connotations of desire and fertility.
  • the adjective "fresh" has plural connotations as it also describes Eva like a food - a possession, that eventually expires
• Gerald [desire and lust] - "Women of the town"

  • Euphemistic language to show Gerald's determination to conceal his use of prostitutes