Inherit the Wind- Freedom to Think Essay -- essays research papers

Inherit the Wind, based on the famous Scopes Monkey running in the small townspeople Dayton, Tennessee, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The bestow was non intended to depict the actual history or the proceedings in the Scopes trial but it was used as a vehicle for exploring favorable anxiety and ant-intellectualism that existed in the Americas during the1950s. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as a solution to the threat to intellectual freedom presented by the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. The major themes depicted in the Inherit the Wind include the intellectual curiosity, narrow-mindedness or limited perception, the importance of religion, and the relationship between the perception of others and ego-worth portrayed by the characters in the play. The characters include Henry Drummond, Matthew Harrison Brady, E.K Hornbeck, Bert Cates and Rachel Brown they represented the ideas and ways of persuasion that existed then and now.Inherit the Wind took place in the small town of Hillsboro in which the time was not too long ago. Bert Cates, a untried teacher, who is imprisoned in the jail for teaching ontogenesis to his high instruct biology class. The Reverends daughter and Cates fiance, Rachel, urges Cates to tell the town what he did was ill-timed and he is sorry however, the town firmly believes that Cates is wrong and awaiting for Matthew Harrison Brady to come to town to prosecute Cates. Brady is a three time presidential candidate and firm believer in the Bible. The town hung a streamer Read your Bible on courthouse and paraded the streets enthusiastically singing Give me that stylish religion when Brady arrives into town. Also arriving in Hillsboro, is E.K Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, who is cynical reporter and comments on everything. Hornbeck informs Brady that he will be arguing against Henry Drummond in court. The town sees Drummond as the devils advocate. Drummond arrives in town with little notice and is shunned by the people in town. In the course of the trial, Brady starts out confidently and chooses witnesses who profess strong unearthly belief. Brady calls for Rachel to be on the witness stand and twists her words about what Cates has told her. Meanwhile, the label excludes all Drummonds scientific witness on the grounds of evolution itself is not on trial. D... ...will appeal the case however, his victory is setting an ensample for others who choose to think. It will make it easier for the next person. Cates finds a new liveliness with Rachel away from the small town Hillsboro. The trial in Hillsboro is an allegory for the slip in the 1950s. In the 50s, the government condemns people who supported communism thus leading to the censorious climate of McCarthyism. In addition to the witch-hunt and anti-Communist hysteria, regional conflicts between northern and southern states in the east of America. Laurence and Lee wrote the play to parallel some of conflicts of idea and subtly review them to the people. It was the method of exploring the major themes in the theses conflicts between intellectuals and believers, thinkers vs. narrow mindedness, and the relationship between the perception of others and self worth. Ultimately, Inherit the Wind encourages the right to think and the freedom of thought. In the fight the value of free thought and speech upon which this country is built, nothing is obtained notwithstanding like the situation in which Brady attacks his own house and inherits the windnothing.