We are led to believe at the beginning of the play that
the dinner we are witnessing contains the elite of society at the time. Gerald Croft is
the son of Lady Croft, and he is joining the Birling household as he is engaged to
Sheila Birling. Mr Birling indicates to Gerald that he too will be receiving a
knighthood soon.
We are sceptical of Birling's
understanding of society, however, as he makes assertions about the future which we know
to be misguided-
BIRLING:The Germans don't want wa. Nobody wants
war, except sone half-civilised folks in the Balkans....I'm talking as a hard-headed
practical man of business. And I say there isn't a chance of war...There'll be peace and
prosperity and rapid progess
everwhwere.
Birling
and his contemporaries hold the balance of power in the UK, and yet he seems hopelessly
ignorant. His values are also selfish and insular -
BIRLING: ...a man has to mind his own business
and look after himself and his
own.
Birling believes that
his power and influence should have a bearing on the way he is treated by the
inspector-
BIRLING: I was an alderman for years - and Lord
Mayor two years ago - and I'm still on the
Bench...
However we see that
the inspector does control the investigation in who he interrogates and who he shows the
girl's picture to-
INSPECTOR: You heard what i said before,Mr Croft.
One line of inquiry at a
time.
By the end of Act 1 at
least Sheila has realised that they are all in the control of the inspector, and that
their past indiscretions will all soon be laid
bare-
SHEILA:Why - you fool he knows.
Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don't know
yet.
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