full title Inherit the Wind
playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
type of work Play
genre Courtroom drama
language English
time and place written Early 1950s;
United States
date of first publication 1955
publisher Random House
tone Playful and ironic at times, but often carries weighty
symbolic significance
setting (time) The playwrights define the setting as “not too long
ago,” also noting in their notes preceding the play that “It might
have been yesterday. It could be tomorrow.”
setting (place) A fictional town called Hillsboro, in the rural South;
the playwrights imply that these events could have taken place in
any small town in America.
protagonist Bertram Cates
major conflict After being arrested for teaching evolution to his science
classes, Bertram Cates becomes the center of a controversial trial
about religious fundamentalism versus the freedom of individual
thought.
rising action Cates teaches evolution to his science classes; Cates
is arrested for violating the law that bars the teaching of evolution; Matthew
Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond represent, respectively, the prosecution
and the defense, drawing national attention to the trial.
climax When Brady flounders under Drummond’s line of questioning, the
courtroom spectators shift their support to Cates.
falling action Cates and Drummond consider their trial a popular and
societal victory and decide to prepare an appeal; Brady becomes
flustered and humiliated and, shortly after, dies of a “busted belly”; Rachel
leaves her father and learns the power of individual thought.
themes Fundamentalism vs. freedom of thought; the individual
vs. society; the conflict of urban and rural attitudes
motifs Love; the chorus
symbols Golden Dancer; Hillsboro
foreshadowing Brady’s gluttonous behavior foreshadows his later death
from a “busted belly”; the playwrights’ stage directions describe Hillsboro
as a “sleepy, obscure country town about to be vigorously awakened,”
foreshadowing the significance of the trial.
