Gerald Croft

Question 1

How does Priestley present the character of Gerald Croft?

Answer

The fiancé of Sheila Birling.
The audience may initially consider Gerald to be a dandy but in the stage directions Priestley specifically states that is not the case, that he ‘is rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town’.
He is not a character the audience will necessarily sympathise with. He has had a privileged upbringing being the son of wealthy businessman Sir George, and his wife Lady Croft.
He takes his social status for granted and can be seen as arrogant and aloof.
He appears pleased with himself and relaxed; the opposite of Eric.
He appears more stereotypically ‘manly’ than Eric as he is presented as strong, confident and unlike Eric, he can take his drink.
The audience perhaps feels Mr Birling would rather have someone like Gerald as his son than the child like Eric.
Gerald can be seen as somewhat of a hypocrite when it is revealed he visits prostitutes and does not give Sheila the attention she desires but at the beginning of the twentieth century it was not uncommon for men of Gerald’s class and status to have a ‘mistress’ and that could be the reason the family, with the exception of Sheila, takes the news of Gerald’s affair reasonably well.
Gerald is presented as somewhat of a sympathetic character when it is revealed he was discreet in the affair, did not impregnate her and started the relationship out of a genuine desire to help her. Indeed, the Inspector states that ‘he at least had some affection for her and made her happy for a time’.
However, his rather callous ending of the affair on his terms, reminds the audience that he should not be seen as too sympathetic a character.

Question 2

What has Gerald learned by the end of the play?

Answer

Gerald is absent for a large proportion of Act 3 and it is difficult to measure how much the evening’s events affected him.
At the end of the play, he represents the voice of reason as he deduces the ‘crime’ never actually took place, thus suggesting he is intelligent and rational.

The video below explains the dramatic devices used in An Inspector Calls:

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