Inherit The Wind: Hornbeck versus Drummond Anonymous College

Inherit The Wind is a play based on the true story of Scope’s “Monkey Trial”, in which a teacher is put on trial for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution to his sophomore science class. Similar to real life events, the play portrays a high school teacher, Bertram Cates, who is accused of teaching an excerpt from Darwin’s Origins of Life and is tried for going against the “word of God”. While the play illustrates an underlying theme of science versus religion it also brings to attention that close-mindedness is not specific to a certain group of people.

Bertram Cates is supported by journalist E.K. Hornbeck and lawyer Henry Drummond who represent him in his trial, while the town’s Reverend Brown and political figure Matthew Harrison Brady make a case against him. Reverend Jeremiah Brown is a hardline Christian who believes evolutionary theory is against religious teachings and strictly believes all those who preach against the word of God are damned. He is unwilling to see past his own views as he believes there is no need to because the bible preaches the literal truth. Much like him, Brady is prideful in his beliefs and unwilling to use reasoning to understand scientific evidence. Though he believes hardliners are essentially...