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

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inherit the Wind, based on the famous â€Å"Scopes Monkey Trial† in the small town Dayton, Tennessee, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play was not intended to depict the actual history or the proceedings in the Scopes’ trial but it was used as a vehicle for exploring social anxiety and ant-intellectualism that existed in the Americas during the1950s. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as a response 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 self-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 thinking that existed then and no w.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inherit the Wind took place in the small town of Hillsboro in which ‘the time was not too long ago.’ Bert Cates, a young teacher, who is imprisoned in the jail for teaching evolution to his high school biology class. The Reverend’s daughter and Cate’s fiancà ©e, Rachel, urges Cates to tell the town what he did was wrong 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 banner â€Å"Read your Bible† on courthouse and paraded the streets enthusiastically singing â€Å"Give me that old-time 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 see s 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 religious belief. Brady calls for Rachel to be on the witness stand and twists her words about what Cates has told her. Meanwhile, the judge excludes all Drummond’s scientific witness on the grounds of evolution itself is not on trial. D... ...will appeal the case; however, his victory is setting an example for others who choose to think. It will make it easier for the next person. Cates finds a new life with Rachel away from the small town Hillsboro. The trial in Hillsboro is an allegory for the situation in the 1950s. In the 50’s, 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 attacking the value of free thought and speech upon which this country is built, nothing is obtained just like the situation in which Brady attacks his own house and inherits the wind—nothing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚