Content Warning: The source material and this section of the guide include references to death by suicide, addiction, and rape.

Arthur Birling is a pompous, self-aggrandizing man who is deeply in love with the myth he has created regarding his own success. At the dinner to celebrate his daughter’s engagement, Arthur’s chief concern is how the marriage will affect his own social standing. Though the Croft family have been rivals to Arthur Birling’s business for many years, the engagement is the signpost of a new era, a union between the families that will lift the Birlings up to a new height. Arthur sees his daughter’s engagement as the trophy that has been awarded to him for all his hard work. Arthur declares that this engagement is a vindication for his hyper capitalist worldview, which, as he explains to Gerald and Eric, is focused on self-sufficiency above else. All that matters to Arthur is himself and his family. Everyone else is inconsequential. To Arthur, people of lower income simply have not worked hard enough or have squandered their energy on helping others. He decries socialism as a waste of time and exploits the labor of others to get rich.

The arrival of Inspector Goole challenges Arthur’s worldview.