Similarities Between Jerome Lawrence And Robert E. Lee's Inherit The Wind

Henry Drummond: A Devil in the Courtroom In Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the defending attorney Henry Drummond clearly impacts the society of Hillsboro more than any other character in the play because of his ability to manipulate the citizens of the society and his decision to question the prosecuting attorney as a witness. First, Henry Drummond impacted the society of Hillsboro the most because of his strong ability to persuade and manipulate the jury in the trial and the citizens of Hillsboro. For example, in Act 2, Scene 2, Drummond starts with asking Brady easy, light-hearted questions, but then quickly brings more difficult-to-answer and draws the crowd in, “DRUMMOND: Do you ever think about things that you

There was no way to measure it, no way to tell! Could it have been twenty-five hours? (Pause. The entire courtroom seems to lean forward.) BRADY: (Hesitates—then) It is… possible… (DRUMMOND'S got him. And he knows it! This is the turning point. From here on, the tempo mounts. DRUMMOND is now fully in the driver's seat. He pounds his questions faster and faster)” (Lawrence and Lee, 97) Because the jury laughs along with Drummond and leans forward to the sound of Drummond’s question, Drummond is obviously very powerful and impacts the jury a lot in this moment. Before the trial began, and even while it was starting, most, if not all, of the jury thought that Cates’s action was sinful. They all seemed to be persuaded by Drummond’s argument, even if they did not fully approve Darwin’s theory of evolution. If one man can do that to a jury, then he must of impacted them more than a more simple character like Bertram Cates or Reverend Brown. Another example of Drummond power to capture the crowd is when he says to Brady, “What if a lesser human being-a Cates, or a Darwin-has the audacity to think

Another reason why Drummond impacted society the most was because of his game-changing decision to bring Brady to the witness stand. An example of this point is when Drummond calls up Brady and Judge says, “I-well, it’s highly unorthodox. I’ve never known an instance where the defense called the prosecuting attorney as a witness” (Lawrence and Lee, 84). The Judge says calling up the rival attorney have never been done before in the history of the court. The fact that Drummond did something that was never done before in the trial is shows that he brought an impact to the trial. He wouldn’t be the most impacting character of the play if he did the same old things that others have been doing in the courtroom for decade. He wanted to do something that would leave a mark in the history of the court, and he certainly did. Also, not only did was the Judge shocked by Drummond’s decision, but the jury was too, “DRUMMOND: Good! (With relish) I call to the stand one of the world’s foremost experts on the Bible and its teachings-Matthew Harrison Brady! (There is an uproar in the courtroom. The JUDGE raps for order)” (Lawrence and Lee, 84). Because there is “an uproar in the courtroom”, the jury are clearly also shocked by Drummond’s nerve to call up Brady. Many of the jury will go back to their town