Inherit the Wind Drummond's defense (VS) Brady's
In the play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the two main characters, Drummond and Brady have different opinions on how humans arrived on earth. Drummond supports the evolution theory, while Brady, the creation theory. The book, which is the Broadway play's script, is based on the 1925 Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes trial. The trial itself had a series of conflicts, the main one being evolution vs. religion, yet there was a series of tensions throughout the trial, including questions of collective vs. individual rights and academic vs. parental concerns. The same plot is told in the play, furthermore, the conflicting ideas of creation and evolution lead to different aspects of the debate, and the right to freedom of speech. In the town of Hillsboro, the debate between creation and evolution is blown out of proportion. First, the townspeople react almost violently to Cates' teaching of the evolution theory. For example, when Cates is arrested, he is called names and is threatened to be killed by the townspeople.
In conclusion, Brady and Drummond did not resolve the ideas in conflict but I think the point Drummond stated about the length of a day put the whole evolution and creation debate into perspective, the best for me. Henry Drummond has taken the case not only to defend Bert Cates but to defend the right of an individual to think for him or herself. First, the court rejects Drummond's original defense, but he then comes up with an idea that might convince the jury. First, Drummond tries using professional scientists as defending witnesses but the judge rules them irrelevant to the case. Then Drummond argues that "a man is on trial, a thinking man" (p 72) referring to Cates' who took it into his own hands to speak or teach what he speaks. After being denied at all costs Drummond decides to use the only thing he has left to defend Cates, the bible. Drummond defeats Brady by using examples from the Bible that oppose to relative thinking. For instance, he questions the passages about Jonah being swallowed by a whale, and then argues that whales
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Approximate Word count = 709
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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