Themes In Inherit The Wind

Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that depicts the infamous Scopes Trial. The real names of the persons involved in the case were changed, however, the play recounts the same story. One journalist in the story, E.K. Hornbeck, who is closed-minded, a hypocrite, and very cynical proves that the religious community of Hillsboro is not the only one to be intolerant.

Truth is oftentimes glazed over or obscured by the sweet words of the manipulator, and the journey to discover it is painful in the mental aspect by challenging one’s mindset or morals. To those who have faith in truth, however, it can be a savior shining a light onto the path of righteousness. In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the eloquent lies of a single girl by the name of Abigail expands into full-blown witch trials where minister Reverend Hale is brought in to examine the markings of those tainted by the Devil. Within his time spent in the ominous village of Salem, the lies exposed to him begin to query his life-long standings of the Bible and God. As he further uncovers the truths, Hale’s role in the Salem Witch Trials undergoes a dramatic transformation from a certain accuser, to a precarious bystander, to the defender of the tried.

The five aspects of a quest are ( A.) a quester, ( B.) a place to go, ( C.) a started reason to go there, ( D.) challenges and trials en route, ( E.) and a real reason to do there. “Once you figure out quest, the rest is easy”. The started goal fades away throughout the story line and a new one is created. In the movie The Wizard of Oz the ( A.) Quester is a young, naive Dorothy, who is from Kansas. Dorothy is caught in a tornado and lands in the Land of Oz. ( B.) A Place To Go: When Dorothy arrives in Oz she finds out the only person the can get her back home is The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald City, and the only way to get there is to follow the Yellow Brick Road. ( C.) As Stated Reason To Go There: Dorothy wants

The Puritan town of Salem is corrupt when it comes to accusing innocent people of witchcraft. The town fears their powerful God and assumes that the Devil is punishing those that sin. Miller writes this play during the Red Scare time period which is also a time of questioning others on beliefs. Miller brings attention that people are questioning others if they don’t understand something and this leads the decision to be made without any background knowledge or ideas. Even if Education is not presented to someone, they should do everything possible to educate themselves on the topic before making a

“Theology, sir is a fortress may not be accounted small.” Arthur Miller uses religion to display the lives of the people in Salem throughout Act 3.

Arthur Miller has shown the influence of the beliefs perpetuated by society on the actions of women throughout the play. The play is set in Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan community. Their society values the sense of community

Like a rock thrown into a pond, one small action affects everyone because we are all linked together in a karass. That rock causes ripples that travel to every end of the pond affecting the still water and the life that floats within it. In the book Whirligig by Paul Fleischman a boy named Brent Bishop is being too hard on himself and decides to stop his pain by trying to kill himself, but he does not realize that his actions would affect the people around him. He ends up killing a girl named Lea who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In order for Brent to gain forgiveness from the girl’s family he has to make four whirligigs and place them on each of the four corners of the United States. Each Whirligig had to represent

It is in times of adversity that individuals call upon their faith and question whether God has ‘heard [their] prayers’, whilst also hunting for the will to survive. It is in this notion, that Arthur Miller presents the ‘cold[ness]’ of the human spirit in his play The Crucible, arguing that the theocratic society of Salem in innately corrupt as he captures the intolerance nature of the Puritan theology. Likewise, Geraldine Brooks ‘novel of the plague’, Year of Wonders examines how in times of despair the ability of individuals to rise up and claim leadership, in attempt to ‘quarantine’ the village of Eyam and save neighbouring communities as exemplified by ‘preacher’ Michael Mompellion. Brooks and Miller also demonstrate the attitudes of the women in their plight to gain power and status in their respective villages. Year of Wonders and The Crucible further examine the need of redemption in an attempt to supress one’s conscience and ultimately their reputation in the village through the heroine nature of the protagonist Anna Frith and John Proctor. However, the portrayal of this concepts allows Brooks and Miller to present an altering perspective on the sacrifice required to attain true humanity in the face of despair.

Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond are two contrasting characters from Inherit the Wind, who are used to show the impact of religion, especially with respect to popularity. Brady and Drummond were both successful lawyers. Drummond had won cases where, even after a “not guilty” verdict, the people still believed the defendant was guilty (Inherit the Wind 27). Brady’s success was equally well-respected, even by Drummond, who described Brady as a giant (Inherit the Wind 128). However, they took opposite sides in the State vs. Cates Trial.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller both used their writings to comment on the state of the world at their current times. Miller’s Play The Crucible and Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter both share several similar concepts, despite the fact that they were written just over one hundred years apart. The Scarlet Letter is about a Puritan woman by the name of Hester Prynne, who has an illegitimate child (called Pearl) with the religious leader of the town, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The Crucible is a play featuring the Puritan town of Salem, which is suffering through a hysterical, supernatural paranoia started by a vengeful adulteress named Abigail Williams. The similarities between these two texts have been compared and explored by many before, and three such explorations are investigated over the course of this paper.

In the play, the characters are intolerant of people who do not conform. If someone is not very religious or has different notions they are incriminated of working with the Devil and doing witchcraft. Today someone could publicly say they don’t presume in God without fear of being hanged.()

The tragic events of the Salem witch trials tested the morality of several individuals, who abided to a government based on religious intolerance and limitation. Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” highlights the detrimental effects of the religious court, and the impact Puritan societal norms had on its citizens. Reverend Hale, a protagonist in the play serves as a balance between morality versus and the religious conformity that took place within society. His transformation throughout the play demonstrates his true intention in doing what is right and abiding by the correct ideals, instead of following the damaging priorities enrooted in the theocratic system. Throughout “The Crucible,” Reverend Hale transfers from adhering to a theocracy to prioritizing the true value of life, revealing his maintenance of a strong moral code.

   Based on the evaluations of literary critics, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” contains both an external and an internal conflict, about equally treated in the tale. It is the intent of this essay to explore both types of conflict as presented in the story.

     The essential theme expressed in Inherit the Wind is narrow mindedness vs. intellectual curiosity. As the play opens, the writers described the town of Hillsboro as being “visible always, looming there, as much on trial as the individual defendant ( p.3).” They go onto describing the courtroom with walls, in which the town square, shops, and streets were always visible. In making the town always visible, it is evident to the viewer that the court case is not just a question of disembodied ideas or legal principles. Instead, the play and the court case it dramatizes the mean to challenge an entire way of life and thinking embodied by Hillsboro, a small Southern American town. The writers zoomed in on the people residing in this town and revealed the homogenous nature. The citizens attend the same church, hold the same beliefs, and join together to condemn Cates, a man who dared to express an opinion different from theirs. Cates is a courageous and idealistic young teacher. He carries the natural tendencies of human nature-curiosity; thus he poses questions at which does not make sense.

Inherit the Wind, a play written by Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence, is about the freedom to think. Which takes place in Heavenly Hillsboro, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, in 1955. A man named Bertram Cates, who is a school teacher for the Hillsboro high school, is one of the main characters. He was escorted to jail for teaching evolution. Henry Drummond, the man who is helping Cates to small town and the world that the right to think freely and teach differently is not harmful.