Play: Inherit the Wind

Overview
"Inherit the Wind" is a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that dramatizes a fictionalized version of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial. Set in the small town of Hillsboro, Tennessee, the play uses a courtroom battle over a schoolteacher's right to teach evolution as a way to explore larger conflicts between intellectual freedom and social conformity. Written during the McCarthy era, the drama functions as both a historical reimagining and an allegory about the dangers of censorship, public hysteria, and the suppression of dissenting ideas.

Plot Summary
The action begins when Bertram "Bert" Cates, a young schoolteacher, is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in defiance of a state law. The townspeople rally around the conservative preacher and prosecutor, Matthew Harrison Brady, who frames the case as a defense of morality and the Bible. The town's newspaper columnist, E. K. Hornbeck, and the urbane defense attorney Henry Drummond arrive to represent Cates and turn the trial into a high-stakes contest of ideas.
Much of the play unfolds in the courtroom, where Drummond and Brady spar over science, religion, and the right to think. Drummond forces Brady onto the witness stand in a dramatic exchange that exposes Brady's literal reading of scripture and his inability to engage substantively with scientific reasoning. Although Cates is formally convicted, the trial inflicts a symbolic defeat on the forces of dogma: the community's certainties are shaken, and the idea of intellectual freedom gains moral and rhetorical weight. The play closes on a somber, ambiguous note as characters reckon with the personal costs of the conflict and the slow, uncertain progress of understanding.

Principal Characters
Henry Drummond, a defense lawyer modeled on Clarence Darrow, embodies wit, compassion, and a commitment to free thought. Matthew Harrison Brady, inspired by William Jennings Bryan, is a charismatic politician whose rhetorical skill masks a rigidity that ultimately isolates him. Bertram Cates is the earnest teacher who becomes a reluctant defendant and moral focal point. Rachel Brown, Cates's fiancee and the preacher's daughter, represents torn loyalty between faith and love. E. K. Hornbeck, an acerbic journalist, supplies cynical commentary and underscores the role of media in shaping public opinion.

Themes and Dramatic Strategy
The play investigates the tension between scientific inquiry and religious tradition, but its central concern is the freedom to think and speak against prevailing orthodoxy. It pits reasoned skepticism against moral certainty and examines how communities police belief through law, ridicule, and social pressure. The courtroom setting amplifies rhetorical confrontations, transforming legal procedure into a stage for moral philosophy. Lawrence and Lee intentionally heightened characters and speeches to dramatize ideas, favoring clarity and argument over strict historical accuracy so that contemporary audiences might confront analogous threats to liberty.

Legacy and Relevance
"Inherit the Wind" became a staple of American theater and has been produced, adapted, and revived repeatedly, including notable film versions. Its enduring power lies in the way it reframes a localized legal dispute as a universal struggle over intellectual freedom. While some critics have faulted the play for oversimplifying historical figures and arguments, it continues to resonate because debates about science in schools, the influence of public opinion, and the balance between belief and free inquiry remain urgent. The play endures as a passionate call to defend the right to think and to resist the social forces that would punish dissent.