Inherit the Wind

There is a monkey present on stage for much of the first act of the play. Hornbeck addresses it directly, making fun of religious misrepresentations of Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The real Scopes trial was widely known as the Scopes Monkey Trial; the monkey here is a reference to that name. Many people misrepresent Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection as claiming that humans come from monkeys or apes. Instead, humans, monkeys, and apes share a common ancestor millions of years in the past. The inclusion of the monkey in this play symbolizes the characters’ varying reactions to evolutionary theory and critical thought. Instead of engaging with Darwin’s theory in good faith, many characters (including the non-religious Hornbeck) simplify it, making it easier to mock and dismiss. Hornbeck is not interested in finding common ground with creationists, which is why he does not properly represent the nuances of Darwin’s theory.

The characters often reference the Bible and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in this text. There is an ongoing debate about which of these books should be taken as truth, and which should be dismissed as a fable. For much of the play, each character seems to fall neatly on one or the other side of this debate.