Literary Devices In Inherit The Wind

The play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert e lee explores both sides of the controversial topic; evolution. Taking place in a small town, a character by the name of Bertram Cates is being put on trial for challenging the towns’ beliefs and teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to a group of school children. This action was considered to be a heinous crime, so the town was forced to bring in two experienced, well known lawyers, Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond to bring the case to court.

The prosecutor, Mr. Brady comes into town exuding his winning tactics right off bat. From the moment Brady enters the town of Hillsboro he has everyone wrapped around his finger. With his open and friendly demeanor he fits right

Drummond carried his case solely based on the fact that he had all of the facts and the character that e felt he needed. In part this is what caused him to lose his case. Prior to his arrival, Drummond was a bit of a buzz among the townspeople but not in the same way that his opponent Brady was. The people of Hillsboro called Drummond things such as “a vicious, godless man!” and “an agent of darkness.” So his reputation among the people of the town was already slightly tarnished and coming in as the defense and shying away completely from any pathological appeals weakened his argument a great deal. In the courtroom, Drummond tried to get through to the jury and the rest of the townspeople by using a logical appeal, stating facts and trying to explain why they people in the court were wrong in the way that they were dealing with Bertram’s case. But, each time he had tried to do so he was either interrupted or questioned, cut off by a firm “objection” by Brady that was always denied. Drummond’s argument was weak because he simply could not get anything through to the

To try and defend his client, Drummond uses a logical and slightly ethical appeal to the court. He does not try to make good with the people of the town and instead focuses more on trying to win a case. When Drummond brings Howard to the stand, he asks him if learning about evolution ever hurt him. This is an example of him coming at the jury in a very sarcastic way that further helps his logic and position involving the case. By Drummond asking simple questions like these he gets a bit of a rise out of Brady—which was something he had shown though out the play to be rather good at—(getting a rise out of the general public/courtroom) because Brady then asked “Ask him if his holy faith in the scriptures has been shattered—” By getting under the skin of his opponent with simple questions such as the one stated above, he creates a space for a wining argument by showing the weakness of argument the opposing side