Meaning of the Title "Inherit the Wind"

The title of the play is drawn from Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart" (KJV). It occurs twice in the script: first, Brady uses it to admonish the Rev. Brown when he zealously prays condemnation on his daughter, who has urged compassion for Cates. Brady seems to be telling the Rev. Brown that such a prayer is "troubling his own house" and cannot result in good; it is, therefore, an appeal for moderation of the Rev. Brown's zeal at this point. Significantly, only the first half of the verse appears at this juncture. In Act III, however, Drummond recites the entire verse as a kind of "eulogistic" summing up of the late Brady's life when Hornbeck suggests that, by quoting it earlier, Brady had written his own obituary. In this instance, Brady would be foolish by troubling the "house" of the nation in his crusade against Darwinism. Brady, in death, has "inherited the wind"-that is, received nothing-because he has rejected the truth in favor of falsehood (the "pleasant poetry of Genesis," Act II, Sc. 2). Lawrence and Lee may have chosen this title because it points to what is, in their eyes, the futility of resisting progress and the power of the human mind; those who embrace these things, however, stand vindicated as "the wise of heart." It is an ironic title because, after all, it is drawn from the Bible-what Hornbeck savagely calls "his book," meaning Brady's (Act III)-the book that is ostensibly under attack throughout the Hillsboro trial. In drawing a title from it, however, the playwrights may be acknowledging that it contains wisdom, but only if properly interpreted; as Drummond says, "The Bible is a book. A good book. But it is not the only book" (Act II, Sc. 2).