Before the confession Gerald is constantly trying to fit in with the Birling family.
Page 6, “I believe your right sir” he Gerald has just agreed with Mr Birling’s views even though Gerald might not agree with them he is desperate to seek approval from Mr Birling and to fit in with the family. Gerald is comfortable around the family before the confession and before he realises that he has some involvement into Eva’s death.Page 8, Gerald is allowed to have port and he “helps himself to port”, this shows that he is not afraid of drinking in front of the family and he is obviously not worried about anything that he may say if he drinks too much, showing that he is comfortable and relaxed around the family. From the families view Gerald is ostensibly perfect, it is very important that Gerald acts this way in order to keep his upper class status and to be good enough for Sheila.However, when Gerald finds out that he is connected to this girls death and his relationship with her might be exposed his character changes.
Gerald becomes more distressed and anxious about the family finding out the truth. Page 23, “pulling himself together” this stage directions shown how shocked and distressed Gerald has become as he realises that he has given away that he knew the girl and realises what a dramatic impact this could have on his status and he relationship with the Birling family.Later, Gerald is still being deceitful towards Sheila, even though he made it obvious that he knew of Eva he still tries to deny it to Sheila’s face. Page 23, “why should I have known her? ” by bare face lying to Sheila it makes Gerald seem like he may not love her as much as everyone thought and their relationship could just be because he wants to get a higher social status.
After Gerald has confessed he seems to become sensitive, because he tries to help Eva (by offering her money) and he admits his wrong doing.We can already tell that Gerald has seen the faults in the current society and would like to change, but whether he can be bothered to change and whether he wants to risk losing his upper class status depends. After the confession a more bitter side to Gerald is shown, he starts speaking to Sheila in quite a bitter tone, this is because he is ashamed of what the family is thinking about him. The confession has just unveiled Gerald’s true character and shows that he was just hiding behind his social status rather than being a genuine man.
