The Inspector believes that “we are all responsible for each other”. This places him in the position of a caring character which is vital for his role as an inspector. Priestly portrays Mr.Birling’s views of the world as incorrect and makes him look foolish. The audience then feel that if Mr.Birling’s predictions are incorrect then why should they trust his right-wing view of the world? This certifies that the play is biased and is very supportive towards Left-Wing views. This specific tactics that Priestly uses is very foolish to right-wing views. Mr.Birling is portrayed as ignorant and a bad judge. Mr.Birling quotes that “the way some of these cranks talk right now; you’d think everybody has to look aster everybody else”. In this quote Priestly comments on how some playwrights are very left-wing and includes himself considering he is left-wing.
The play was first performed in communist Russia. This gives the idea that Priestly was worried whether his play would acquire a large audience anywhere else since Russia were strongly left-wing. This suggests that Priestly was aware of the fact that his play was too biased and was too scared to show it to people in case they reacted in a bad manner.
Towards the end of the play the inspector’s final speech includes him threatening the Birling household that “if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish. The inspector includes a very harsh metaphor tot threaten the Birlings by telling them that is they do not take on left-wing values, cruel thing will overtake the Birling household. The fact that the inspector uses this harsh metaphor tot threaten the Birlings, he includes that they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish. The reason why this accusation might be harsh is due to the suffrage that the audience have just gone through during the Second World War which indeed included blood and anguish. This remark would have ensured the audience to take it to heart.
The inspector imposes the threat of hell when talking with the Birlings. This is an unfair comment to use as he is being unfair to the characters as well as the audience since they might be involved with different religious values. He also connects religion and politics together and uses it as a threat which is extremely unfair since the two topics are completely different.
Arthur Birling often seems to be happy with his family and business without a simple care for the working class. This is shown when he says “just because the miners came out on strike, there’s a lot of wild talk about possible labour trouble in the near future. Don’t worry”. This remark shows the lack of care he has for his workers and that he only worries about his family’s well being.
Throughout the play J.B Priestly points out right-wing vices of the Birlings. Arthur Birling is shown to be conceited since he looks down at the lowers classes. Sibyl Birling is referred to as a snob. We see in Act one Sibyl is “her husband’s social superior”. She is more likely to look down on others to. She gives a negative attitude towards Sheila because of her social status and dismisses her when she implies for financial help. When Sheila applied to the committee she used a false name which was ‘Birling’. When Eva Smith used Mrs.Birling’s name she was very offended because she didn’t think someone was worthy of associating herself with Mrs. Birling.
In act one Priestly shows how materialistic Sheila is. We see this when it is written that Sheila is still admiring her ring when her father is speaking to her. Sheila gets Eva Smith simply because Eva looked better than her in a dress. This is unfair and inconsiderate since she got someone simply because of pure jealousy. Further into the conversation with the inspector Sheila exclaims “I was in a furious temper”. This is a clear example of how quickly Sheila can lose her temper and t what extent she would take her anger to.
Sheila’s fiancé Gerald is guilty of lust. We see this when he says “she was young, pretty and warm hearted… I became at once the most important person in her life”. By saying this comment Gerald is showing the inspector why he was attracted to Sheila.
During the play Eric has been seen to have committed selfish acts such as disrespecting his family’s money. This is a right-wing trait which his father points out hypocritically, that he had “more money to spend and time to spare then I had when I was Eric’s age”. Mr.Birling, who is very right-wing agrees that Eric is being extremely spoilt with his money.
When Gerald had an affair with Eva Smith he took advantage of her since she was so vulnerable. Gerald thought f her as his mistress but also admits to Sheila that she loved him when he says “I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me”. He just thought she was “young and pretty and warm-hearted and intensely grateful”. This shows how inconsiderate he is about other people’s feeling and his lack of respect for Sheila.
Mr.Birling is portrayed as a right-wing character as she’s unable to understand why Eric and Sheila are feeling bad about the death of a young girl. She says “Really from the way you children talk, you might be wanting to help him instead of us. Now just be quiet so your father can decide what we ought to do”. This shows that Mrs.Birling is trying to cover up the scandal since she knows that she is in the wrong and she is very worried about her social status, not the death of the young girl.
An Inspector calls seems biased to have a character that has such an upper hand over the others in the play, it is unrealistic that one character would no everything about the others which makes it highly biased and unfair especially as left-wing is represented by a g-d like figure.
The message put forward in this play is that “everyone should look after everyone else”. Through the whodunit genre the victim, Eva Smith and the hero, Inspector Goole are left-wing triumphs over the right-wing villains. However, we witness the Birlings influence over Eva smith. Throughout the play the inspector goes through each character’s input, we see the effect that every character had on the victim which resulted in her suicide.
The play showed how capitalists have bad characteristics such as selfishness but are not necessarily cold-blooded killers. This is another way to explain the message that Priestly brings out. Priestly portrays the working class sympathetically because he shows Eva to be the victim and eventually dies. Eva is not a passive figure as she does not want to accept money from Eric or Gerald when offered. However Priestly makes it hard for her to work her way up in the social hierarchy.
An Inspector calls does have a left-wing bias. However, it’s not so blatant as to think that communists are all good and capitalists are all bad. In conclusion to this the play is biased however it does not decrease the dramatic tension in the play.
