Another example of Gerald’s emotions occurs after his interview when he admits “I am rather more upset by this business than I probably appear to be.” This could suggest that he tries to hold back his feelings, possibly so that he does not appear weak to Mr Birling. Being upset, he walks out for some fresh air after the interview and whilst he is out he meets a policeman. Gerald asks him about Inspector Goole and the policeman confirms that there is no such person on the force. Upon hearing this news, Gerald’s mood changes back to one of relief and suspicion. This may suggest that he was only upset because there may otherwise have been a public scandal, rather than genuine feelings over Eva’s death.
Gerald’s opinion changes throughout the interview with the Inspector. At first he is sad that Eva has died and needs time to be alone with his thoughts. However, after he finds out that the Inspector is an impostor, his mood reverts back to being jovial and relaxed.
I think Gerald’s personality is affected by the times he lived in. The play is set in Edwardian England 1912 where society is divided into a definite class structure. Gerald’s attitude is typical of an up-and-coming gentleman who modestly commands respect and is politely charming amongst company.
Arthur Birling is a prosperous factory owner but not the social equal of his wife as he is a ‘self-made man’. His first priority is to make money and is more concerned about that than the welfare of his workers and so therefore pays them the absolute minimum. He says that “It is his duty to keep labour costs down.” Money rules his world. Near the end of the play, this is portrayed very well when he tries to make amends by saying to the Inspector “Look, Inspector – I’d pay thousands.” The way he interacts with his family at the start of the play is very different to how he talks at the end. At the start of the play, he is the entertainment host, and so he is nice to everyone. He even makes a speech for Gerald and Sheila’s wedding. However, later when the Inspector calls he lets his guard down by chastising Sheila when she is warning Mrs Birling about the Inspector. This shows whatever mood he is in, the rest of the family end up mirroring his emotions (people can only be happy if he is ).
Birling is very concerned about himself and his public image but doesn’t really care about others (he’s capitalistic). Even when he welcomes Gerald into the family as his son in law, he acknowledges the potential advantageous business link between himself and Gerald’s father. He is very much a hard headed businessman who believes that “a man should make his own way”, disregarding who he hurts in the process. When Birling finds out about his sons drinking problem, he remarks 'You damned fool - why didn't you come to me when you found yourself in this mess?' to which Eric replies 'Because you're not the kind of chap a man could turn to when he's in trouble'. This shows that he disregards the feelings of his family, as well as the lower class and is incapable of offering support or advice.
He, unlike Gerald, does not try to hide his feelings, especially when the Inspector is questioning him. When the Inspector first arrives, Birling tries to threaten and intimidate the Inspector by mentioning his friendship with the Chief Constable and with comments such as “Your new here, aren’t you” and “I was an alderman for years and Lord Mayor two years ago – and I’m still on the bench, so I know the Brumley police officers pretty well.” This does not have the intended effect on the Inspector and, to Birlings dismay, the Inspector continues his questioning. Birling’s opinion about the happenings does not change during the interview; he ignores all his families shameful actions and keeps his view that it has nothing to do with him. The Inspectors persistence annoys Mr Birling because he is interrogating him like anybody else and not how he would like to be treated. He refuses to admit to his part in Eva’s death or accept any responsibility. Birling relies on his status in society to get him out of trouble. Birling represents J.B Priestly’s hatred of egocentric capitalists who are purely interested in wealth and status will never alter their arrogant ways.
If I was to choose two actors to play out the parts of Gerald Croft and Arthur Birling I would choose Hugh Grant to be Gerald and Ricky Gervais to be Arthur. I would cast Hugh Grant to be Gerald because he has already successfully adopted roles regarding the typical “man about town” charming bounder image. Despite Gerald’s upper class background, he would need to be portrayed as more modest and less overpowering than Birling. This could be achieved through Hugh Grants body language, tone of voice and posture. Gerald is alike to characters Hugh Grant has played in About A Boy and Four Weddings And A Funeral so his experience would help. Also, Hugh’s accent sounds quite high class and would fit Gerald character. I would emphasize his actions when he finds out about Eva and when he is arguing. Gerald’s personality would be very important because I need Hugh Grant to show that whilst he is sensitive, he will still cheat on Sheila and abandon Eva when it suits him. He is in Birling’s shadow business wise, therefore I would need to unmask his character by comparing the way he acts around Eva and Sheila. When talking about Eva, Gerald would say she was very pretty and that she stood out from the crowd but he would never talk about Sheila in this way.
When Hugh Grant is talking to the Inspector he remains calm and does not try to intimidate him. The Inspector should be standing with Gerald in a sitting position, showing that the Inspector is in charge. In my version of the play I would have the same backdrop as J.B.Priestly as this focuses all the attention on the current characters and keeps the play “naturalistic”. The actor’s clothes should embody their persona. Gerald would be wearing dark coloured clothing, maybe navy blue, so he appears unassuming but the Inspector should have black clothes on because he is very dull and straight to the point.
I chose Ricky Gervais’ character David Brent to play Arthur Birling because he is self centered and thinks of himself before others. Arthur is very vocal and uses body language a lot to accompany his arguing. He should talk louder and lower than everyone else to appear manlier and in control of the situation. When he talks to the Inspector he should stand up as to try and assert his authority. Birling is said to be pompous and this could be portrayed if he used long words and didn’t use slang words like “squiffy” as earlier used by Sheila. Birlings clothes should be very smart and expensive as he thinks of himself to be an upper class member of Brumleys society.
The scene I have chosen to direct is Act 3 and the scene where Gerald rings up the infirmary to ask about Eva’s death. I have chosen this scene because it shows Gerald’s and Birling’s quick transition from unhappy and nervous to happy and jovial. The scene starts with Sheila saying that the Inspector showed her a photograph but not letting anyone else see it. This would create some suspicion and Gerald points out to Mrs Birling and Sheila that “there’s still no proof it was really the same girl.” Birling backs Gerald up as he knows that if Gerald is right then he is off the hook. I would tell Gerald to take up the role of the Inspector with the same attitude, trying to get to the point. For this scene he questions everyone about what the Inspector asked them until he would come to the conclusion of ringing up the Infirmary and asking if Eva is there. As he is on the phone he should walk around nervously, looking over to the Birling’s whilst listening to the Infirmary employee. It turns out that there is no Eva Smith there and they hadn’t had a suicide for months. This is the important part of the scene as everybody would breathe a huge sign of relief because they think that they are out of trouble. Then Birling would start saying how he had his suspicions all along and that a real Inspector would not talk to the upper class the same why Goole did.
I think this is a good scene because before making the phone call, both Gerald and Birling are nervous and are not very happy about the goings on, but once Gerald comes off the phone they both totally change and are happy, not because Eva is supposedly alive but because they are no longer in hot water. I would advise Birling to change back to his usual pompous self and start to talk about his knighthood again to show that he wasn’t really worried about Eva at all. However, Gerald would not be as jovial as at the start of the play because the Inspector exposed his affair which caused the marriage to be called off. But, right at the end of the scene, they receive a phone call which Birling answers as the other wait nervously. Birling then comes off the phone and tells everyone else that “That was the police. A girl has just died – on her way to the Infirmary – after swallowing some disinfectant. And a police inspector is on his way here – to ask some – questions….This is a brilliant way to end the scene because it confuses the audience and then makes them think “Who was the Inspector and how did he know all this was going to happen?”
In conclusion, I think that Birling is much more of a selfish Capitalist then I first imagined. He even disregards certain members of his family to concentrate on his business. Directing this as a play would be very hard as you would have to keep the “action” as interesting as possible because there is nothing else to focus on. Gerald is also more selfish than he first appeared to be and I have found that he would rather have a week long relationship with a girl that he hardly knew than spend time with his fiancée. I think J.B Priestly was trying to say to all the readers that Capitalism is not the right way to think and that if you believe that it’s “every man for himself” then people get hurt in the process of your success. Priestly hated hard nosed businessmen and embodied one in Birling’s character. Birling is the character the audience were supposed to dislike to perhaps Priestly was trying to make the audience realize that Socialism is the way to go and that the little you hear about Eva’s character shows her to be the nicest person out of everyone. She was supposed to be shown as a Socialist victim of a Capitalist family. The Birling’s selfishness had driven Eva to take her own life.