An Inspector Calls - What Impressions do you get of Gerald?

Hi there,

I had to analyse this in school a few weeks ago so here are a few points I had- hope they are useful:

1. When Gerald says 'I think Miss Birling is ought to be excused', and also when he says it is 'bound to be unpleasant and disturbing', you could say that although he did have an affair, he still cares about how she feels as he does not want to upset her.
2. The inspector then asks about Gerald's view on protecting women from 'unpleasant' things, he replies 'If possible yes' which shows that Gerald feels it is his duty to protect woman , perhaps as he sees them as 'vulnerable' and 'fragile'. However, saying this, in both cases for Sheila and Eva, he has not been very successful. Gerald sees himself as the stronger gender and therefore men should use it for kindess...
3. When Sheila says 'so that's what you think I'm really like'.... and Gerald says 'no, no, I didn't mean'. This shows that Gerald's intentions are often misconstrued such as when he wanted to help Eva but it then turned to love.

Sorry I only have three but I hope it helps anyway!

Hi there,

I had to analyse this in school a few weeks ago so here are a few points I had- hope they are useful:

1. When Gerald says 'I think Miss Birling is ought to be excused', and also when he says it is 'bound to be unpleasant and disturbing', you could say that although he did have an affair, he still cares about how she feels as he does not want to upset her.
2. The inspector then asks about Gerald's view on protecting women from 'unpleasant' things, he replies 'If possible yes' which shows that Gerald feels it is his duty to protect woman , perhaps as he sees them as 'vulnerable' and 'fragile'. However, saying this, in both cases for Sheila and Eva, he has not been very successful. Gerald sees himself as the stronger gender and therefore men should use it for kindess...
3. When Sheila says 'so that's what you think I'm really like'.... and Gerald says 'no, no, I didn't mean'. This shows that Gerald's intentions are often misconstrued such as when he wanted to help Eva but it then turned to love.

Sorry I only have three but I hope it helps anyway!

Btw when you do an extract question, can make two explanations and get two marks for it or do they have to be separate. For example
"I think Miss Birling ought to be excused"
1) He actually does care about her as he wants to protect her.
2) He is being selfish

I would say you could do two different interpretations at the same time. My teacher says it is good to explore other interpretations because it shows you are thinking outside the box. I would probably be best to do them in the same paragraph and say you can learn two things about Gerald in the one sentences. If your just listing however, they could be separate

I would do them in the same paragraph, I am just listing things before I begin to write up my answer

Oh ok then I would do them in one paragraph . Good luck finding 10 anyway! It is quite a difficult passage!

haha lool I think anyone would with such boring homework

Oh my- I know- it scares me lool ! It takes me like 5 years to write an essay for English! At least it isn't just me !

I am just dreading the new GCSEs. We have to remember all of An Inspector Calls, unseen poetry and A Christmas Carol all for one exam. I would probably end up spending the whole two hours on the extract question if I couldn't do it and that's all I'd do.

Oh you're doing the new GCSEs! I'm still the old ones I feel so sorry for all of you its way too difficult!

I'm not that bothered about the actual ENGLISH aspect but it's the remembering part I am worried about. Basically, in An Inspector Calls, there is 6 characters and a ton of themes.