In what ways is An Inspector Calls a Left Wing Play?
An inspector calls is in many ways a left wing play. A Left-wing political view sees each individual as being part of a community in which everyone is responsible for everyone's else's economic and social well-being. A Right-wing political view sees each individual as being responsible for himself and his immediate social circle. To show how an inspector calls is a left-wing play, I will focus on five main points. The first point is how Arthur Birling is made to seem conceited at the beginning of act one. The second main point that I will explain is how others criticise well-known playwrights who shared the same values as the author J B Priestley. Another main point that I will focus on is how the inspector is constructed as a God-like figure and how his language conveys his authority. The penultimate main point is how the Inspector is shown to be the spokesperson for Priestley’s own left-wing values. The final point that I will focus on is how the playwright has made Arthur Birling’s predictions look foolish using dramatic irony.
The first point that I am going to focus on is How Arthur Birling, as the spokesperson for his family's values, is made to seem conceited at the beginning of act one. There are a few points at the beginning of act one that show how Birling is conceited, one is on page eight. It is when talking to Gerald, he boasts that “there is a fair chance that I might make it into the next Honors List. Just a knighthood, of course.” This quote shows how Arthur Birling is portrayed as pompous. This quote is trying to make Gerald think that Birling is also very high up in the community. As Gerald’s father also has a knighthood, Mr Birling wants to show him that his family is highly respected. Priestly presents Arthur Birling as a pompous, opinionated man who wants to impose his views and also his ways of thinking on everyone around him. The quote shows that Birling does not care about the views, as getting a knighthood is clearly above his status. This quote clearly shows Birling’s attitude and Priestley indicates Birling as overconfident. Another quote that Priestly used to show us that Mr Birling is conceited at the beginning of act one is the very first line. This line is “Giving us the port, Edna? That’s right.” Priestley used this quote as the opening line to the play to show both the Birling’s status and to tell the reader what the occasion was. Firstly, Priestley used the quote to show the Birling’s status, this is because how birling says “Giving us the Port, Edna,” shows that Birling treats Edna (the family helper) not as good as how he would treat his wife. Only wealthy people can afford a helper, the birling can because Arthur Birling is a wealthy business man. Secondly, Priestley used the quote to show the reader what the opening act was going to display. The quote vaguely shows that the Birling are celebrating as having alcohol would not be a usual drink for a meal.
Another point that shows how An Inspector Calls is a left wing play in how Arthur Birling criticizes well-known left-wing playwrights who shared the same values as J B Priestley. An example from the text is “we can’t let these Bernard Shaws and H.G. Wellses do all the talking.” This is an example of Arthur Birling criticizing well-known left-wing playwrights. J B Priestley’s views were very left-wing as he set up a political party called the common wealth party, which argued for public ownership of land. What Priestley is trying to covey using this quotation is that while having a left-wing political view not just one person should be doing all the talking for the community, everyone has to step up be responsible for everyone. This is the only true example of Arthur Birling criticizing well-known left-wing playwrights. Arthur Birling is very pleased with himself and also very confident, he could even be portrayed as overconfident at some parts of the play. Quotes that show Arthur Birling is very pleased with himself are mainly at the beginning of the play. A quote that shoes he is ambitious is “there’s a very good chance of a knighthood” this is fairly near the start of the play while talking to Gerald Croft. Another quote that describes Arthur Birling as Business-minded is “a hard-headed, practical man of business.” To show that Birling is a selfish man “a man has to make his own way.” And to show that Birling was anxious “there’ll be a public scandal – unless we’re lucky.” These four quotes show Birling’s thoughts. Birling was anxious in the play because if there was a public scandal, he knew he would not have any chance of getting a knighthood in the future. This partially shows that he is very selfish and is only looking after himself.
The third key point that I will focus on Is how the Inspector is constructed as a God-like figure by seeming omnipotent and omniscient. Priestley makes the inspector the God like figure by seeming all powerful and all knowing. The inspectors final message was “we are all responsible for each other.” We are left with real mystery at the end of the play because all of the mystery suggests that the inspector is not a ‘real’ person. We can believe that the inspector could be a ghost because the inspectors last name ‘Goole’ reminds us of ‘ghoul’ which is a ghost. If the inspector was a ghost, could he be the voice of Priestley or the voice of God. The inspector is shown to be the spokesperson for Priestley’s own left-wing values. The inspector is omnipotent because he knows the history of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton and each one of the Birling’s’ involvement in it, even though the inspector says at the beginning of the play “two hours ago young women died in the infirmary.” This shows it had happened very recently.