How we cite our quotes: (Act, Scene, Line)
Quote #4
DUNLAP. (Vigorously) I believe in the Holy Word of God. And I believe in Matthew Harrison Brady! (I, II, 85-86)
There's some kind of creepy hero-worship seeping into the discourse here, as Brady becomes about as important as God himself. We think Brady'd agree with Dunlap. Ugh.
Quote #5
DRUMMOND. You murder a wife, it isn't nearly as bad as murdering an old wives' tale. Kill one of their fairy-tale notions, and they call down the wrath of God, Brady, and the state legislature. (I, II, 294-97)
Do you think what Drummond says here is true? Can society handle a murderer easier than someone with revolutionary ideas?
Quote #6
BRADY. […] I say that these Bible-haters, these "Evil-utionists," are brewers of poison. (II, II, 50-51)
Oh, he went there. Even Brady isn't too high and mighty to make a nice pun on "evolutionists." But he's playing his listeners, trying to make them fear evolutionary science. He wants to make people shake in their boots at the prospect of new ideas… which kind of makes him sound like he's opposed to learning, doesn't it?