Gerald Croft Quotes
This article has some of the key quotes for Gerald Croft from the play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ along with explanation and analysis of these quotes.
These quotes can be used in exam answers. Some of the larger quotes do not necessarily have to be quoted in full but just the relevant words or sentence which connects to the point being made.
Many of the quotes cover the same themes and points, however this list of quotes is intended as a resource for students and readers of the play so each quote can be used in its own way or for explaining some of the same points as other quotes do. It would be up to the reader to decide which quote he would prefer to use if for instance two different quotes support the same point.
1. Quotes: Then it'll be all right. The governor prides himself on being a good judge of port. I don’t pretend to know much about it.
Analysis: Mr Birling references Gerald’s fathers familiarity with port which is an expensive wine which would only be bought by those wealthy enough to do so. A status symbol. Gerald does not seem that interested in it and admits he is not too familiar with it. This shows he is less obsessed with reputation, status, image and classism than Mr Birling is. This is a very subtle thing but seen in context with other quotes and the rest of the play Gerald is less classist and more ‘humane’ than the Birling parents. This generational difference perhaps indicates the hope for a better future with the emergence of the new generation.
2. Quotes: Oh – I will, I will.
Analysis: Sheila makes a subtle dig regarding Gerald’s absence in the summer to which her mother tells her off that when married she’ll realise how busy ‘important men’ and to get used to it. Sheila says she doesn’t believe she will get used to this and says half seriously to Gerald that he should be careful, to which Gerald replace ‘Oh – I will, I will.’
This is telling because rather than react with anger that how dare a woman and his future wife warn him if he had a more conservative patriarchal mindset Gerald reacts differently. We can see from the comment about port that he is different to his father slightly and this comment about trying to comply with his future wife’s wishes also shows that he is a more liberal, progressive person who has a more egalitarian view of gender roles.
Click on the Link to Read About: Gerald Croft Character Analysis
3. Quotes: 'You seem to be a nice well-behaved family -'
Analysis: Irony from Priestley here. Appearances can be deceptive but ‘appearance’ and ‘reputation’ are of immense importance to the likes of the elder Birlings and many in high-class English society at the time. Despite seeming to be a nice and well-behaved family we find out how cruel some of their behaviour is. Birling involved in the firing of Eva rendering her jobless.
Sheila’s capricious behaviour which led to Eva losing another job. Mrs Birling denying her much needed help from the charity that she (Mrs Birling) works with and Eric fathering an illegitimate child with her in an illicit affair. ‘Illicit’ by the standards of those times as it was sexually promiscuous behaviour that would never lead to marriage or a serious relationship. Eric also stealing money from his own family.
4. Quotes: Sure to be. Unless Eric’s been up to something. (nodding confidentially to Birling.) and that would be awkward, wouldn't it?
Analysis: Mr Birling’s maid tells Birling that an inspector is at the door to which Birling replies it must be about a warrant. Gerald agrees with him and yet again we see irony from Priestley saying via Gerald maybe Eric has been up to something.
From the context this seems to be a joke and just to tease Eric but as is often said ‘many a truth is said in jest’ and though Gerald may not know this Eric has indeed done something bad which is to make a poor, jobless woman pregnant with a child she is not able to provide for.
5. Quotes: You couldn't have done anything else.
Analysis: This is said in reply Mr Birling saying that a week after the strike that Eva Smith helped to organise he let all the female workers back except for the ring leaders which included Eva Smith.
Gerald believes that this was the only option available to Birling so in a way he supports the capitalist system. Rather than having a more compassionate attitude that even the leaders of the strike should have been reinstated as they too were economically dependent on these jobs he supports their dismissal.
Perhaps such a view is heavily in part due to his ignorance of the plight of the working class poor, an ignorance which plays like ‘An Inspector Calls’ helps to combat. What we can take from this is that Gerald is definitely not an anti-capitalist leftist.
6. Quotes: I should say so!
Analysis: This is said in further support of Mr Birling who after the previous comment mentioned above said that ‘If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth.’
Gerald too is from a rich family and looks at things from a business perspective of maintaining a successful and functioning business, but he seems to be unaware that this can come at the cost of real human suffering as we find out later on with the case of Eva Smith.
7. Quotes: Yes, I think you were. I know we'd have done the same thing. Don't look like that Sheila.
Analysis: Again said in support of Birling’s dismissal of Eva Smith. Gerald says this fully aware that Eva is dead. Despite the death of a young woman he supports the capitalist method of doing things here e.g. dismissing ‘troublesome’ workers. Money comes above lives. This seems to stem largely because there is no direct human interaction between Gerald and any of these workers. Gerald’s attitude changes and there is one of shock when he realises that the dead woman is also the same ‘Daisy Renton’ with whom he had an affair.
Perhaps what Priestley is telling us is that some of the indifference to the suffering of the working class poor on the part of the wealthy upper class is due to lack of interaction and that if they were to interact personally with these people they would see their common humanity and thus instil in them a desire to see a fairer, more just and humane society.
8. Quotes: And I don't really see that this inquiry gets you anywhere, inspector. It's what happened to her since she left Mr Birling's works that is important.
Analysis: This is again another example of the irony that is quite abundant in the play. Little does Gerald know that by saying what happened to Eva after her firing by Birling is what matters implicates his own actions, though he himself has not done harm to Eva and in fact financially supported her during her difficulties, however he was engaged in an affair with her. He cheated and betrayed his partner.
9. Quotes: Well, there's nothing to settle as far as I’m concerned. I've never known an Eva Smith.
Analysis: This is an interesting quote and ironic and perhaps contains a deeper significance than meets the eye. First of all unknown to Gerald he did ‘know’ the woman that was Eva Smith albeit under a different name. So he is wrong.
However on a deeper level, he has not known ‘an Eva Smith’ can allude to the fact that apart from having a short-term affair with her where he helped her and slept with her, he did not really know Eva properly. Not in the same way as he knows Sheila. Eva was a secret mistress. A hidden secret. By not knowing this particular Eva Smith i.e. a working class woman, it alludes to him not really knowing any working class woman. This is symptomatic of the separation of social classes in Britain at the time where the rich did not mix with the poor and kept a distance.
This distance and lack of interaction bred ignorance and perpetuated the rigid class snobbery existent at the time. However perhaps by the rich interacting with the poor a bit more it could have broken down barriers. Gerald maybe rich financially but he is poor spiritually in that he is lacking in knowing and understanding the lives and personalities of the overwhelming majority of his countrymen and women at that time. Not just Gerald but the Birlings and thus the rich in general.
10. Quotes: After all, y'know, we're respectable citizens and not criminals
Analysis: This myth is going to be blown apart during the course of the play including regarding Gerald himself. Whilst not an ‘adulterer’ in the strict sense as he was not married to Sheila he was in a relationship with her and cheated on her. The rest of the Birlings are also exposed for their cruel treatment of Eva.
They cannot indulge in their self-perception of themselves as being ‘holier than thou’ respectable upper-middle class people. This may be extended to the upper-middle class in Britain in general. They cannot self-glorify themselves and vilify the poor. Both the poor and rich are human. The rich have faults, the poor have virtues.
11. Quotes: Fortunately, it isn't left to you, is it?
Analysis: This is said in response to the inspector saying ‘Sometimes there isn’t much difference as you think. Often , if it was left to me, I wouldn’t know where to draw the line.’ What Priestley is saying via the inspector is that this neat demarcation between ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people is simplistic. It is more complex and fluid than that.
It is alluding to the fact that situations can make the ‘good’ bad and vice versa as we find out in the play. Taken to a more general level it can be said that we and our actions are often the product of individual situations and circumstances but also more fundamentally the social class that we are born to. We are all human and have good and bad in us.
The one which prevails out of the two (good and bad) can be as a result of the situation. People should not be so judgemental. However Gerald doesn’t seem to be too interested or appreciative of what the inspector is saying. That is because of his lack of life experience. Later on when he finds out that Daisy Renton is Eva Smith who is now dead he seems to be shaken.
12. Quotes: (surprised) Well, I never said I hadn't. I don't see why –
Analysis: This is in response to Sheila saying to Gerald ‘At least, I’m trying to tell the truth. I expect you’ve done things you’re ashamed of too.’ In essence Priestley is using the play through lines such as this for the rich in British society to engage in introspection and see they are not free of fault and that nor are the poor working class people unworthy of any respect or sympathy. Gerald does admit that he is not perfect, though in the rigid classist mind of a lady like Mrs Birling, she would prefer to view him as a ‘righteous’ middle class man.
13. Quotes: I didn't.
Analysis: A response to Sheila saying ‘How did you come to know this girl – Eva Smith?’ Gerald is wrong, he does know her. He is essentially lying. Another example of someone rich not being free of negative qualities such as lying.
Priestley is exposing the shameful behaviour of the rich here to instil some realism amongst them that they are just normal people with good and bad qualities as are the working class poor.
14. Quotes: All right. I knew her. Let's leave it at that.
Analysis: Gerald after lying a moment ago about not knowing Eva Smith then admits he did. So this is proof that he was lying. Again no one if they are objective (unlike the deeply classist Mrs Birling) can state that the rich are free from bad deeds such as lying.
15. Quotes: I'm sorry, Sheila. But it was all over and done with, last summer. I hadn't set eyes on the girl for at least six months. I don't come into this suicide business.
Analysis: Gerald denies that he is responsible for Eva Smith’s suicide. It could be said that he is right, in that he did try to support Eva financially and provided her a place to stay.
However Eva was ‘good’ enough as a mistress but not as a wife whom he should support and care for. The heavily classist nature of British society made marriage between them virtually inconcievable, even if he hadn’t been in a relationship with Sheila.
16. Quotes: You don't. Neither of us does. So – for god's sake – don't say anything to the inspector.
Analysis: This is said to Sheila exonerating themselves from Eva’s death. This can be seen to be a fault on the part of Gerald because it is clear that Sheila had some impact on Eva’s life, harming her financially and causing her to become destitute.
Though Gerald does have some positive qualities such as supporting Eva, he also supports capitalism e.g. with his backing of Birling’s firing of Eva earlier on in the play and now trying to absolve Sheila for any part in Eva’s demise.
Act 2
17. Quotes: Why should you? It's bound to be unpleasant and disturbing.
Analysis: Gerald does not want Sheila to stay which prompts the inspector to say ‘and you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?’.
Little does Gerald realise the irony in this question, because the inspector seems to be referring not just to Sheila but to women in general.
Gerald knows that if Sheila stays she will find out more of the truth. Thus the truth of this story which reflects the plight of working class women in Britain at that time is ‘unpleasant and disturbing’. If the reality of life for the poor is ‘disturbing’ then morally the right thing is for things to be changed and society to be made better, and this is what Priestley’s central message is.
18. Quotes: if possible – yes.
Analysis: Gerald does not understand the full significance of what he is saying. If women should be protected then the social conditions which lead to their suffering need to be changed. This is what Priestley wants
19. Quotes: Mrs Birling, the inspector knows all that. And I don't think it's a very good idea to remind him--
Analysis: Gerald gets irritated with yet again another reference from Mrs Birling on how powerful her husband is i.e he was mayor and is still a magistrate. Rather than supporting Mrs Birling and using that to intimidate the inspector it annoys him. It seems to be another indicator of the mental difference between him and the elder Birlings.
Position and status are not quite that important to Gerald as they are to the elder Birlings. If this is the case with Gerald perhaps this is the case with many others or most of the younger generation of the wealthy classes in Britain. Status and position are not the ‘be and end all’ of everything for Gerald. He is less status-obsessed than the elder Birlings.
20. Quotes: I'm afraid it is, y'know. Actually I've never seen much of him outside this house – but- well, I have gathered that he does drink pretty hard.
Analysis: In a night where many unpleasant truths are revealed, Gerald states that Eric does indeed have problems with alcohol image and thus again undermines classist notions of the inherent moral superiority or freedom from fault of members of the wealthy elite.
A ridiculous notion that seems to be supported by the intensely classist and deluded Mrs Birling and most likely many like her amongst the upper classes.
21. Quotes: sorry – I – well, I've suddenly realized – taken it in properly – that's she's dead--
Analysis: Gerald had earlier been supporting Birling verbally over his dismissal of Eva from her job however the humanity within him rises to the fore and prevails over the businessman who wants to make money.
No longer is she a troublesome worker who was ‘rightfully’ fired but she is a human being who, whilst narrating to the inspector how he first met, he is clearly have mental images of her. It hits home to him the same young woman he met that night is now dead. It clearly saddens him.
Gerald is a complex character who cannot be totally respected as a gentleman nor totally criticized as a money-orientated businessman. He is both and his personality is fluid depending on the context as is the case with most people.
22. Quotes: she looked young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down here. And obviously she wasn't enjoying herself. Old joe meggarty, half-drunk and goggle-eyed, had wedged her into a corner with that obscene fat carcass of his--
Analysis: Gerald earlier on tells everyone that Eric does indeed have alcohol abuse problems and here another of the rich members of the local community is exposed her. This time ‘Joe Meggarty’. Yet again Priestley is exposing how bad the rich can be.
23. Quotes: of course I do. He's a notorious womanizer as well as being one of the worst sots and rogues in Brumley--
Analysis: Being rich does not make on exempt from being a liar as we say earlier with Gerald initially claiming he did not know Eva nor does it make you exempt from being an alcoholic ‘sot’ or a pervert as is the case with the lecherous and predatory Joe Meggarty. Again Priestley is telling the rich not to have a deluded self-perception of themselves as being totally ‘proper and righteous’.
24. Quotes: the girl saw me looking at her and then gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help. So I went across and told Joe Meggarty some nonsense – that the manager had a message for him or something like that – got him out of the way – and then told the girl that if she didn't want any more of that sort of thing, she'd better let me take her out of there. She agreed at once.
Analysis: Eva needed help from a predatory member of the local rich. However was it just for that night alone and was it just Eva? On a deeper level there are many Evas in fact millions of Evas and they did not need single solitary acts of kindness to help them but a more general and fundamental reform of society.
Social reform which could only be bought about by pricking the conscience of the rich in much the same way in the play Gerald is moved to action and helps Eva to escape from Meggarty.
25. Quotes: no. she only had a port and lemonade – or some such concoction. All she wanted was to talk – a little friendliness – and I gathered that joe meggarty's advances had left her rather shaken – as well they might--
Analysis: Eva did not want money or sexual activity, she simply wanted a conversation, an attentive ear, some sympathy, human kindness and to be free from Meggarty and his sexual advances which had traumatised her to an extent.
Gerald’s relationship with Eva did not originate out of lust but from compassion, from Gerald helping Eva in a moment of trouble. Perhaps the middle class in general if they saw the reality the suffering of the working class would extend more deep-rooted, permanent help and create a fairer, more equal and socially just Britain.
26. Quotes: I discovered, not that night but two nights later, when we met again – not accidentally this time of course - that in fact she hadn't a penny and was going to be turned out of the miserable back room she had. It happened that a friend of mine, Charlie Brunswick, had gone off to canada for six months and had let me have the key of a nice little set of rooms he had – in morgan terrace – and had asked me to keep an eye on them for him and use them if I wanted to. So I insisted on Daisy moving into those rooms and I made her take some money to keep her going there. (carefully, to the inspector.) I want you to understand that I didn't install her there so that I could make love to her. I made her go to morgan Terrace because I was sorry for her, and didn't like the idea of her going back to the palace bar. I didn't ask for anything in return.
Analysis: Gerald explains how he helped Eva. So ironically the same woman whom he had earlier said was rightfully made jobless is also the same woman he then helped financially. If she had never been made jobless by Birling and then his daughter he would have no need to fund her and provide her accommodation and it would not have led to him having an affair with her. Irony is rich in ‘An Inspector Calls’ and the world is much more interconnected place than some of the rich would like to think it is.
27. Quotes: yes. I suppose it was inevitable. She was young and pretty and warm hearted – and intensely grateful. I became at once the most important person in her life – you understand?
Analysis: This is said in response to the inspector asking Gerald ‘but she became your mistress?’.
Gerald is far from perfect and rather than say he could never betray Sheila and would always be loyal to her. Rather than display the revulsion to the poor characteristic of Mrs Birling their class differences did not prevent an affair happening between Eva and Gerald.
28. Quotes: it's hard to say. I didn't feel about her as she felt about me
Analysis: This quote reflects the gender and class disparities between Eva and Gerald. Gerald was socially and financially more powerful and able to support Eva. She was dependent on him. This dependence created gratitude and thus a form of love. His feelings to her were one more of pity though he did engage in an illicit affair with her.
29. Quotes: all right – I did for a time. Nearly any man would have done
Analysis: This is said in response to Sheila saying that Gerald must have ‘adored’ the role he had as benefactor of ‘fairy prince’ to Eva. He admits he did enjoy it and that he is human and thus of course frail. This is yet again Priestley stressing that common human weaknesses are shared by everyone despite supposed class differences.
30. Quotes: no. I wasn't telling you a complete lie when I said i'd been very busy at the works all that time. We were very busy. But of course I did see a good deal of her.
Analysis: Gerald did see quite a bit of Eva. Why? Was Sheila not good enough for him? Did that relationship have something lacking that made Gerald do what he did? If so then it would undermine classist attitudes because by the logic of some of the deeply classist upper-middle classist British at the time it would be unimaginable that Gerald could even see Eva in any way equal to the morally and socially ‘superior’ Sheila. Again Priestley is attacking the ignorant, unrealistic and deluded classist world view of the upper middle class British of the time.
31. Quotes: Yes, we'd agreed about that. She'd saved a little money during the summer – she'd lived very economically on what I'd allowed her – and didn't want to take more from me, but I insisted on a parting gift of enough money – though it wasn't so very much – to see her through to the end of the year.
Analysis: Again great irony. Gerald would never have had the ‘need’ to fund Eva if she had never lost two jobs in the first place, both job dismissals as a result of the Birlings. The Birlings on their side would not have seen Gerald ultimately cheating on Sheila if they had not got Eva fired.
32. Quotes: I see. Well, I was expecting this.
Analysis: Gerald’s reaction to Sheila returning the ring to him after revelations of his affair with Eva. His reaction is more of a realistic, human one than it would have been if he was more patriarchal and classist and had expected Sheila to stay with him despite what he did. In certain societies it was an open secret that rich, powerful men had mistresses and their official partners or wives had to accept that. Gerald is more progressive than that.
Act 3
33. Quotes: Of course!
Analysis: In contrast to Sheila who says whether the inspector being a real police officer or not is irrelevant contrary to her father’s opinion, Gerald agrees with Birling. Sheila is more focused on the human aspect of Eva’s tale, of the loss of life a fellow human being. Birling is virtually indifferent and more focused on his own self-centred interests including avoiding damage to his reputation. In this regard Gerald is closer to Birling than to Sheila. Gerald is a complex character and cannot be neatly labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
really helpful and easy to understand