Gerald Croft

Gerald Croft

1. Upper class fiancé of Sheila Birling

   • "from an old country family"
   • Son of Mr B's business rival
     • Social superior
   • Traditional
     • "young women ought to be protected"

2. Outlook

   • Similar to that of Mrs B's
     • Agrees to action taken on firing Eva
       • Completely business minded
         • "You couldn't have done anything  else"
     • Impresses her- good match
       • "well-bred young man-about-town"
     • Both G and Mr B are more interested in finding out if the Inspector and the girl were real than talking responsibility

3. The Event

   • Tries to conceal involvement with Eva Smith
     • Seems to be genuinely remorseful
     • Did not take advantage of her in the same way that Eric did
     • Liar
       • "I wasn't telling you a complete lie"
   • Makes it clear that they both understood it would be short term affair
     • Least to blame?
     • He was in control of the events though
     • He thinks he's done nothing wrong
       • she "didn't blame me"
       • Inspector isn't too harsh as he had "affection" for her

4. Shows the clearest head at the end

   • first to question the Inspector
   • Rings up
     • First to use the word "hoax"

5. At the end he seems to have gone back to his old ways

   • No longer romorseful
     • Thinks Sheila should just accept the ring again.

6. Themes

   • Young and Old
     • The young can be just as self centred as the old
   • Social Class
     • he treated her badly because she was a lower class
       • only looked after her when it suited him

7. Overall he isn't bad or good

   • Complicated
   • Hypocrite
     • Inspector asks whether he thinks young women should be "protected"
       • Says yes
       • He is the person doing these things to working class peopel
         • No different to Mr Birling
   • He is able to protect his public image from private- unlike Gerald.
   • He's upset when he learns that Eva's dead
     • Gets over it pretty quickly
       • Could be that this is what Gentlemen are meant to do
   • Others have acted out of greed or malice
     • He could be motivated by sympathy