Inherit the Wind (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jerome Lawrence Schwartz, Robert E. Lee
- First Published: 1955
- Type of Plot: Social realism; history
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Hillsboro, a small town in the American Bible Belt
- Principal Characters: Matthew Harrison Brady, Henry Drummond, Tom Davenport, E. K. Hornbeck, Bertram Cates, Rachel Brown, The Reverend Jeremiah Brown
- Genres: Social realism, Drama, Psychological drama, History play
- Subjects: Creation myth, Science or scientists, Religion, 1920’s, Lawyers, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Evolution, Biology or biologists, Courts or courtrooms
- Locales: Tennessee
The Play
Based on the real-life trial of John Thomas Scopes, convicted in 1925 of teaching the theory of evolution in his classroom in a Dayton, Tennessee, high school, Inherit the Wind owes much to the transcripts of the trial, although the authors fictionalize their material and do not intend their play to depict accurately the “Monkey Trial,” as this historical proceeding was called.
The play opens outside the Hillsboro courthouse, where the trial of Bertram Cates, the accused biology teacher, will be held. The prosecutor, Matthew Harrison Brady, is a...
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See Also:
See Also:
- - For teachers, the Inherit the Wind Lesson Plan.
- - Inherit the Wind summary and study guide in the eNotes.
- Add Inherit the Wind to your favorites