Exposition

• Describe the dining room

  The dining room is of a fairly large suburban house, belonging to a prosperous manufacturer. … The general effect is a substantial and heavily comfortable but not cosy and homelike. 
• Describe the lighting

  The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives and then it should be brighter and harder 
• Describe Birling

  Arthur Birling is a heavy-looking, rather portentous man in this middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in this speech. 
• Describe Mrs Birling


  His wife is about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband's social superior. 
• Describe Sheila

  Sheila is a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.
• Describe Gerald

  Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the well-bred young man-about-town. 
• Describe Eric


  Eric is in his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive. 
• What are they doing in the exposition

  At the moment they have all had a good dinner, are celebrating a special occasion, and are pleased with themselves. 
• "Good dinner" conversation

  Birling: Well, well – this is very nice. Very nice. Good dinner too, Sybil. Tell cook from me. 

  Gerald: (politely) Absolutely first-class. 

  Mrs Birling: (reproachfully) Arthur, you're not supposed to say such things- 
• Sheila questioning Gerald last summer

  Sheila: (half serious, half playful) Yes – except for all last summer, when you never came near me, and I wondered what had happened to you. 
• Mrs Birling 'warning' Sheila

  Mrs Birling: Now, Sheila, don't tease him. When you're married you'll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You'll have to get used to that, just as I had. 
• Sheila reacting to her ring

  Sheila: (excited) Oh – Gerald – you’ve got it – is it the one you wanted me to have? 

  Gerald: (giving the case to her) Yes – the very one.
• Sheila looking at the ring

  Sheila: (taking out the ring) Oh – it's wonderful! Look – Mummy – isn't it a beauty? Oh – darling - (she kisses Gerald hastily.) 
• Birling talks about the titanic

  Birling: Why, a friend of mine went over this new liner last week – the Titanic – she sails next week – forty-six thousand eight hundred tons – New York in five days – and every luxury – and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
• Birling talking about knighthood

  Birling: So – well – I gather there's a very good chance of a knighthood – so long as we behave ourselves, don't get into the police court or start a scandal – eh? (Laughs complacently.) 
• Birling, Gerald and Eric's encounter about clothes

  Birling: Yes, but you've got to remember, my boy, that clothes mean something quite different to a woman. Not just something to wear – and not only something to make 'em look prettier – but – well, a sort of sign or token of their self-respect. 

  Gerald: That's true. 

  Eric: (eagerly) Yes, I remember – (but he checks himself.) 

  Birling: Well, what do you remember? 

  Eric: (confused) Nothing. 
• What does Birling emphasize about individual responsibility?

  A man has to make his own way
• What does Birling mean by "look after himself"?

  He means prioritize personal and family welfare
• How does Birling view the idea of community responsibility?

  He considers it nonsense and impractical
• What does Birling imply about the younger generation's views?

  They misunderstand the importance of self-reliance
• What metaphor does Birling use to describe community?

  Like bees in a hive
• What lesson does Birling claim to have learned?

  Experience teaches the importance of self-care
• What sound interrupts Birling's speech?

  The sharp ring of a doorbell
• What does Birling do when he hears the doorbell?

  He stops to listen