Scopes Trial In Inherit The Wind By Jerome Lawrence And Robert E. Lee

David C. Brown (1985) recounts the details of how Giles Cory was pressed to death on September 19th. Cory pled not guilty but remained silent when asked if he would accept a trial in front of a jury. His failure to speak brought the proceedings to a halt. After several days the court decided to use its legal right at attempting to literally press an answer out of him. Although the court had the right under common law to deal with Cory as it did, it seemed to many to be a harsh and increasingly arbitrary act of enforcing authority.

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s play “Inherit the Wind” contains occurrences that are so outlandish it is hard to believe that the play was heavily based on an actual trial. Most of the play was fictionalized for entertainment’s sake but it still kept the main themes from the trial of The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes The most significant theme of the play is the importance of an individual being able to think freely and not worry about being discriminated and punished for his beliefs, which is displayed in the quote above The quote above is spoken from a broken man, a “sovereign schoolteacher” (Lawrence Lee 22) who chose to share his harmless ideals to a community but then was treated as if he were a “criminal” (Lawrence

On page 51 and 52 Drummond says “I understand what Bert’s going through. It’s the loneliest feeling in the world - to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down... Walking down an empty street, listening to the sound of your own footsteps.” This means to fight for what you believe in is hard especially if your the only one who believes it, and Drummond describes it as the loneliest feeling in the world. The author's craft used in this quote is imagery because the author uses sensory details.

He even started to defend the victims and convince the court of that the judging was unfair. He was aware of the innocence of the people but could say nothing to sway their judgment of them. Reverend Hale states, “your honor I cannot think you must judge this man on such evidence.” (Miller 58) This quote from hale Shows his outlook changed to trying to help the victims.

The results of the trial in Stamford was that Mercy Disborough was temporarily convicted of witchcraft while Goody Clawson was acquitted. The consequences for Mercy Disborough were that despite months and jail and continued peer accusation, she was acquitted. The consequences for the townspeople are blurrier, but it is evident that persistent hysteria was not one of them. The results of the trial in Stamford were largely reigned in from the massive hysteria and mass convictions associated with contemporary witch trials by the law.

Characterization in Inherit the Wind ​Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the play Inherit the Wind is a fictitious spin off of the historical Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which hotly debated the concept of evolutionism vs. creationism and, in general, a person’s right to think. In the play, a young man by the name of Bert Cates is prosecuted for teaching evolution in school and breaking the state’s “creation-only” law. His case is taken to court where he fights against the highly exalted paragon of religious devotion, Matthew Harrison Brady. Henry Drummond, an almighty but rather infamous attorney, stands by and defends Cates throughout the whole trial. In the midst of this all, Cates’ lover, Rachel Brown, is torn between her love

Although this may be true, many other people do believe that the events occurring during the 1920’s changed American lives for the worst. This was due to the many racial and religious conflicts arising during this time. With every other concept becoming modern in the United States, modernists took this approach with religion as well. They believed that they could accept Darwin’s theory without sacrificing their religious faith.

The justice system has always been the heart of America. But like this country, it has many faults. Prejudice has played a major role in the shaping of this system. In the 1930’s the way a courtroom was set up was completely different from how it looks to day. In the book To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee shows just how different it is.

Perception defines the world around you. It affects every aspect of your being: your thoughts, actions, beliefs, etc… In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch begins to understand just how impactful perception can be as she witnesses the deterioration of the dignity of Tom Robinson, a black man who is being tried for the rape of a white girl. In this intriguing read, Harper Lee demonstrates the theme of inaccurate allegations very effectively. More specifically, when inaccurate allegations that are solely based on perceptions are presented, the consequences can be significant, for others may suffer at great lengths.

We all have individual rights. For example, the right to believe in anything we would like to believe in without being persecuted or thrown into jail. We are entitled to have our own thoughts and opinions, but in the book Inherit the Wind written by Robert E.Lee and Jerome Lawrence we see that having your own individual beliefs or thoughts is unacceptable and wrong. Bert cates, the main character of Inherit the Wind is an evolutionist teacher at Hillsboro public school.

The article “Consider the Lobster” by David Wallace opens a vivid, gruesome window, to a harsh truth that all lobster consumers push far back into the recesses of their minds. Wallace implores us to visit the controversial issue of boiling a live creature to death, for the sole purpose of our consumption. He uses a variety of literary persuasive tactics including the three rhetorical appeals Logos, Pathos and Ethos to drive home his argument to the reader. Throughout the article Wallace puts the reader on the front lines of a three-front war of convincing ethical, emotional and logical appeals.

In Martin Luther King’s, Letter from the Birmingham Jail, King attempts to shed a different “light” on the assumptions of his “fellow clergymen” that he addresses in the letter from jail. King focuses on the key assumptions in the letter of the clergymen, addressing their point of view, and then stating his own relevant reasoning and examples and supporting it. On April 12, 1963, King as well as various groups of nonviolent protesters were arrested in Birmingham because they were protesting racism and racial segregation. They were arrested under a newly created law for demonstrating (Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle).

Both Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” are both books that present us with the theme of ‘men of conscience’. John Proctor and Atticus Finch, both fictional characters from the books, are considered to be ‘men of conscience’. A man of conscience is a man aware of the moral and ethical judgements he has a strong desire to do the right thing whenever possible. The life of these men is ruled by their desire to seek the truth and justice in the situations around them; these traits are displayed in both of the characters throughout both the novel and the play.

Reasonable doubt proves that critical thinking is important when someone’s life is in someone else’s hands. “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose, is a play about twelve jury members who must deliberate and decide the fate of a man who is accused of murdering his father. These twelve men must unanimously agree on whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty without reasonable doubt. Just like the jurors, the readers of this play have not witnessed the crime that took place before the trial started. Everyone, but the writer, is in the dark about who committed the crime.

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he provides answers to fundamental metaphysical questions regarding the nature of the human soul. Though his letter is addressed to a group of eight clergymen criticizing his direct action campaign in Birmingham, his ultimate aim is the uplifting of human personhood. Underlying King’s letter is a philosophical, hylemorphic anthropology which puts an anchor deep into a certain conception of personhood, and binds all people who are to read it. He looks deeply at the nature of human beings, as rational creatures who are made to love and be loved, and from thence, deliberates that there is a universal Gospel of Freedom and Justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that there are universal principles justifying what actions are morally right and wrong, just and unjust.