...Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the play Inherit the Wind is a fictitious spin off of the historical Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which debated the concept of evolutionism vs. creationism and, in general, a person’s right to think. Brady and Drummond, two lawyers appointed to Bertram Cates’ trial are both powerful characters, different yet they portray many similarities through their behaviour. Demonstrated through various personal flaws, strengths, and their own particular relationships with religion, both contrasting characters function as an important mechanism by which the play’s predominate theme of the importance of freedom of thought are emphasized. The ability to think, or exercise free thought is, philosophically, the foundation of our existence. You can not become all that God created you to be until you embrace your identity — the unmistakably unique and flawed you that God intentionally made for a purpose. The high and almighty Brady was even flawed, he showed a great deal of love towards the public. Before the time of radio and television, if he controlled the media, he controlled the masses. He became who the community wanted to hear, dependant of the flock of followers he had created behind him. Lavished with all their praise and glory Brady built up an ample amount of confidence in himself. The power he had gained made him feel secure and he was always seeking for more, this becomes evident when he runs for president in three consecutive elections...
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...In the book Inherit The Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, three of the main charters, Rachel Brown, Bertram Cates, and Hennery Drummond all have their true selves revealed and developed throughout the book. Rachel Brown, who is the reverend's daughter and Cates Girlfriend, is on a journey of self-discovery and her charter as a person is really developed. Bertram Cates is a meek and humble school teacher who is arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of Evolution. In Inherit the Wind He learns to come out of his shell and begins to believe in his cause. Hennery Drummond is the defending lawyer, he is trying to prove Cates innocence, at first he's betrayed a sinister man, but as you dig deeper into the story you discover he is trying...
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...Inherit the Wind is a good play. It’s about a man named Brady who gets killed because he taught about evaluation. There were two different sides in the play, one side being the ones who believe in evaluation, and the other side being believers in Jesus Christ and that man was created by God. Brady is accused of leaving God because he had left the church. I believe you can still believe in God, even if you don’t go to church. The first reason I believe this is because people aren’t born into the church in America, they are born free, becoming church members only if they choose to be. Which meaning they can also choose to be Christians, but also not attend church. Everybody in this life was born to be whatever they choose to be and do. This...
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...“All motion is relative. Perhaps it is you who have moved away- by standing still” (Lawrence and Lee 67). The book, Inherit the Wind written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, takes place in a small town in the heart of Tennessee, Hillsboro, and the Bible Belt in the 1920s. The play, converted to a novel, covers an early case of evolution v. religion in the South. Thinking the teachings of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is interesting, a young teacher, Bertram Cates, teaches the theory to all of his students, even though it is outlawed in the state at the time. Not soon after, he finds himself behind bars, and big lawyers like Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry S. Drummond come rushing in to shine light to the town in darkness. The town sides with Brady, the prosecutor and a profound Christian who ran for president multiple times. On the other hand, Drummond, an...
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...“Never judge a book by its cover,” (Ozzy Osbourne) one must get to know the person before they judge one another. People are not always the person they are said to be. In the play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Henry Drummond is called the “Devil” and is a “godless man.” Character traits are words that can be used to describe a person’s personality. Henry Drummond is not seen as the person he truly is by the people of Hillsboro. Henry Drummond is actually an admirable man. Some character traits that prove he is admirable are, that he is quick-witted, brave, and compassionate. To begin, Henry Drummond is quick-witted. This means one must be able to think of alternative solutions when one is unable to use the original...
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...The play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee chronicles the trial of Bertram Cates—a school teacher in Tennessee who breaks the law by teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution instead of creationism. Matthew Harrison Brady, the prosecuting attorney on the case, exhibits prominent characteristics which directly affects the way he conducts the trial. Brady displays various examples throughout the play of how his arrogance, insecurity, and intolerance influences the way he acts. To begin with, Matthew Harrison Brady’s arrogance is an aspect that altered his conduction of the trial. An example is when Brady learns Henry Drummond will be the defence attorney on the case. Regarding this piece of information, Brady says, “If...
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...Inherit the Wind (1960) is a film that promotes intellectual freedom and criticizes attempts to quell the free exchange of ideas. While the content of the film was loosely based on the real Scopes trial that occurred dealing with the teaching of evolution in schools, the film contains themes criticizing the fear mongering and injustice that was occurring just previously to the time period in which the film was released; this phenomenon came to be known as McCarthyism. Similar to the Red Scare that occurred toward the end of World War I, McCarthyism in the 1950s was characterized by a strong anti-communist movement as the Cold War was occurring. The government actively searched for federal employees who were disloyal to the United States or...
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...Inherit the Wind is an excellent film created after the play of the same name based on the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. While based on an actual court case and displaying identical ideas throughout the film, Inherit the Wind is a completely fictional story. It begins with a school teacher named Bert Cates, having been arrested for teaching evolution to his sophomore science class. Bert was not at all sorry for defying the law prohibiting that sort of teaching. He was standing by his idea that any man should have the right to think what they want, and never actually dispelling any ideas of Christian creation or claiming evolution to be fact, but theory. Then Rachel Brown, Bert’s girlfriend and the daughter of Reverend Brown visits Bert in jail. Rachel is greatly conflicted between the opposing beliefs of her boyfriend and her father, who happens to be a known spiritual leader in the town of Hillsboro where the story takes place. Rachel knew her father never favored Bert and once he hears about the teacher filling students’ ears with what he considers “Atheistic filth”, she would be torn between supporting either of the men she loved. Rachel preemptively tried to convince Bert to plead guilty to no avail. Soon after, to Bert’s surprise, word gets around that Matthew Harrison Brady, three-time presidential candidate, and leader of the crusade against evolution, has volunteered to be the prosecuting attorney against him. Here the film starts to paint a picture of the ensuing...
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...Drummond’s Win “Inherit the Wind” is one of the greatest plays in American history. The play depicts a historical event, The Scopes “Monkey” Trial. The event involved a teacher on trial for delibereately teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution at school. In court, attended the best lawyers. Matthew Harrison Brady, a religious man, and a three time presidential candidate. While the town of Hillsboro were fond of Colonel Brady, they were petrified of Colonel Drummond’s actions. He was known for winning cases where criminals were guilty of appalling crimes. His arguments somehow led the judge to feel sympathy for the accused, and would blame society for their wrong doings. This case was challenging for Drummond, and despite him legally losing, he did not lose morally. Initially, Bertram Cates felt solitude from sitting in jail, but also because he was loathed by the people of Hillsboro. Cates felt like he was being treated like a murderer. Drummond replied to him, “You murder a wife, it isn’t nearly as bad as murdering an old wives’ tale.” Hillsboro is a town filled with religious people....
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...In the movie “Inherit the Wind”, people made wrong choices, good choices, and no matter what they did someone had to suffer some consequences. But who really suffered the consequences in “Inherit the Wind”. I personally think that Bert Cates suffered the most. There are many reasons why and this essay will explain those reasons. When Bert’s girlfriend (Rachel Brown) goes up to the stand as a witness, Mr. Brady starts to pressure her. She seems to be holding back something that could be good evidence to the case. Mr. Brady starts yelling at her saying, “Tell us what you’re holding back! Tell us what you’re not saying! Say it! Say it! Say it!” She then starts to cry from the pressure. Had Bert not started talking about evolution...
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...After the crusade against “Pagan” and “medieval nonsense”, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind entertains the idea of respecting one’s enemy. Henry Drummond and Mathew Brady were their own type of juggernaut in their field, and each man had their own view. After the untimely death of Brady, Drummond gives one of the central themes of Inherit the Wind. Following all the hate-filled aspersions in Inherit the Wind, Drummond teaches the idea of respecting thy enemy after victory. The trial of Bertram Cates was not a subdued issue in Hillsboro. The battle to protect the principles of “the city of Zion” was a heated issue in the southern town (Lawrence and Lee 16). Henry Drummond was a man against all odds, his enemy, Mathew Brady,...
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...Modeled after the Scopes Monkey Trial, Inherit the Wind has the citizens of Hillsboro remain intransigent in their observance to Christianity and reject the concept of evolution, resulting in the trial that would bring attention from everywhere in the country. Referred to as the “buckle on the Bible Belt” (Act 1. Scene 1), the town is known for its strict adherence to its religion and puts a school teacher named Bert Cates on trail with the intent of imprisoning him for teaching evolution since it was illegal to do so. Although characters such as prosecuter Matthew Harrison Brady condemn Cates as a sinner and blame him for spoiling the minds of the town’s youth, he has never read the works of Darwin to understand why evolution would be taught. When questioned by the defense attorney Drummond, Brady...
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...| Research Paper | Inherit the Wind | | Ronald Ma | 103945967 | | Research Paper: Inherit the Wind “Inherit the Wind” is a film that addresses the age old debate on evolution vs creationism, and is based off of the Scopes Trial back in 1925. The film takes set in a fundamentalist town, Hillsboro, where a teacher, Bertram Cates, is being held on trial for introducing some of Darwin’s theories of evolution to the kids in his class. Although being a very old film, it reveals a lot of the crucial problems and issues with society that is even apparent in today’s societies. The town of Hillsboro is depicted as a place filled with narrow minded people who blindly follow their statesman, Matthew Brady. Throughout this film, many reoccurring themes are seen. The many themes including but not limited to: individualism, fundamentalism, free speech, critical thinking and progress. When watching this film, the audience is immediately presented with two clear sides that are at conflict. During the post discussion held in class, a classmate pointed out that many problems in today’s society stem from religion, and that many international conflicts are caused because of religion. While this argument certainly has it merits, I do not believe this is the main focal point the film is trying to depict. There is no doubt that religion causes a split in the community but that is only because of how the individuals choose to interpret and relay their sacred and biblical readings....
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...Richard Domenech l Professor Gomez 3/10/16 Proposal: Inherit the Wind “Inherit the Wind” is a riveting tale about what is right and wrong, Religion or Evolution. I have chosen to Write about Drummond and his ideologies and views on not only the bible but evolution as well. Drummond, being the defense attorney for Cates, he argues against a biased court to prove to a well religious town that not only is Cates innocent for believing in Darwin’s evolution theory, but that the law should not demand everyone to have one way of thinking. From the very beginning Drummond always seemed to be a fair character. He is perceived to be a very good lawyer and even a celebrity to the town, but at the same time being ridiculed as being “the devil.” Throughout the entire case he does not take to any particular side, religion or evolution, even though he is defending Cates, he builds his case against the town by trying to argue that everyone has their own right to think and make their own decision. Not very easy for him due to the fact that the entire court room is unfair to him and Cates in their beliefs. I will argue that what Drummond was looking for right from the start was a fair court and case. Instead he had to try to convince the town and jury to think and judge fairly. I will use his, what used to be close, relationship with Brady and other characters to support my claim. Some challenges i might face writing my piece would be the minimum page requirement and focusing on the...
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...For centuries there has been a constant struggle between progress and stagnation. Between science and Scripture. Between the church and governments. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind brings up the ultimate question: Can the findings of Charles Darwin coexist with Scripture? By forcing the two books together Henry Drummond showed that the books could both be respected and understood by mankind without belittling each other. Bertram Cates decided that he was going to “read [his] sophomore science class … Darwin’s Origin of Species,” even though “there’s a law against it,” (Lawrence and Lee 12). The townspeople believed that to believe in Darwin would be in direct conflict with the teachings of the Bible, even believing...
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