Inherit the Wind the Play Essay

The play "Inherit the Wind" changes the real-life script. In the real "Scopes Monkey Trial" Clarence Darrow defends John Scopes and William Jennings Bryan serves as the prosecutor. This was a clash of legal titans, if you will, because Bryan had run for president of the U.S. several times. Actually Bryan can be seen now as a brilliant buffoon, arguing that the Bible trumps science.

Is the play sympathetic to the law? Actually it is not sympathetic to the law, because although Cates had to pay a $100 fine, Brady (playing Bryan) is made to look rather silly when cross examined by Drummond, who gets Brady to admit he does not interpret the Bible literally, which shoots down the creationist story. Moreover, the victory is a hollow one for the prosecution. What characteristics of law are featured in the play? In this fictional court of law in 1925, the judge shows within his authority he is biased; he refuses to accept the expert testimony from scientific witnesses; he says that evolution is not on trial, but indeed it is on trial.Wouldn't it make sense to hear the science part of the issue? Why would that be irrelevant in this trial? Ridiculous! The conflict was built around law, so that question does not apply. Does the depiction of law cry out for legal reforms? Yes, of course, laws against an instructor teaching the science of evolution are absurd and based on fundamentalists / evangelicals refusal to accept empirical research. Basing a 20th century law on the Bible is itself a backward, ignorant and reactionary idea.

Works Cited

Adams, Noah. (2005). Timeline: Remembering the Scopes Monkey Trial. National Public

Radio. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://www.npr.org.

Gillett, John. (1960). Review of Inherit the Wind. Sight and Sound, 29(3), p. 147.

The Monkey Trial. (2007). The Movie: Inherit the Wind / the Facts: Trial of….....