GERALD

• "the easy, well-bred, young man-about-town"

  • prejudices of Edwardian society work in his favour
  • is incredibly self-assured as he has never had a reason to question his social standing
  • "well-bred" highlights the antiquated Edwardian social values - modern audience would associate more with animals such as pedigree dogs or horses
  • he is a paragon of social superiority
  • idiom "man-about-town" could alternatively foreshadow the literal action of going "about-town" to find a mistress in the palace bar
• "he means I'm getting hysterical now" - Sheila

  • attempts to exclude Sheila from the conversation - Sheila is aware of this and exposed his true intent by saying this
  • notion of hysteria - means of discrimination against women
  • Gerald's colloquial reference to this displays him as a misogynist to even his own fiancee
• "women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things"

  • tries to act like a saviour
  • not only is this repressive and patronising but its laced with irony as he willingly exposes Eva
• "suicide business"

  • uses apathy to distance himself from the tragedy
  • euphemizes her death through the insensitive noun business
• "young and fresh and charming"

  • Gerald could be seen as a predator
  • noun " fresh" connotes to innocence and purity which presents Eva as prey for Gerald
  • introduces notion of consumption which implies Gerald is acting on primal and lustful desires
• "at least he has some affection for her and made her happy for some time"

  • inspector is less harsh on Gerald than the other characters
  • Priestley himself had affairs in his own marriage - he refrains from displaying infidelity as one of the most pertinent misconducts within the texts
  • audience respects inspectors omniscience and mirror his views - provides and opportunity to applaud Gerald's somewhat philanthropic behaviour toward the working class and encourage this social behaviour
• "Everything's all right now, Sheila (holds up the ring) What about this ring?"

  • he suppresses and downplays the events of the evening exposing his remorse seen earlier as specious and preformative
  • "ring" as a metonym for marriage displays Gerald's materialistic view of marriage - ignores any sense of emotion or love
  • reverts to symbol of traditional power and possession in order to reassert himself, finding comfort in the ingrained societal beliefs which make life 'easy' for him
  • glimmer of hope is shattered from the audience
• "she didn't blame me at all. I wish to god she has now."

  • he is speciously honourable and initially puts on a facade of remorse
  • disingenuous nature is exposed through irony that he prioritises his attempt to rid himself of the blame for Eva's death, so in fact. he doesn't wish for the blame he claims to want.