12 angry men
'Choose one juror from the play or film. Outline his attitude at the beginning of the play or within the first ten minutes; again at the end of Act one or half way through; and again at the end. Assess the extent of this juror's influence on other jurors. How would you sum up this juror's character/role in the play/film? Use examples and quotations from the play to support your ideas and opinions. After watching the film Twelve Angry Men and looking carefully at each character's reason for being on the twelve man, all white jury, I chose to discuss Juror eight's attitudes. Juror eight was the protagonist of the play. He was the first to vote 'not guilty' and stand up against the other eleven men who all voted guilty. The first thing that affected him was the thought that he and eleven other men were to decide the fate of a boy, whose life was 'just beginning', in what appeared to be an 'open an
Then, while lying in bed, he heard a body hit the floor in the boy's apartment, and he heard the woman scream from across the street. Juror eight, a tenacious man, remained firm to his beliefs and defiant to the end. Although he admitted that he did not know whether the boy was guilty or not, he believed that everyone deserved justice and a 'fair trial' no matter what race or colour the defendant was, as he was not governed by personal prejudices and rash decisions, unlike some of the others on the jury, for example juror's ten and three. He got up; he tried to get to the door, heard someone racing down the stairs and assumed it was the boy. He brought forward ideas such as the old man's fifteen seconds in court. Juror eight raised a reasonable doubt over the women's testimony, the boy's alibi, the knife and the wound. Despite Juror Three, Seven and Ten's constant aggressive arguments against him, he remained calm, firm and logical in his responses, seeming to annoy them even more. He knew that the other jurors would not be impressed by his decision but insisted on going over all the evidence and 'facts' before coming to his decision. His most noticeable strength was his courage to stand alone and fight for what he believed in. His sympathy and understanding was shown to perhaps save an innocent man from death. 'I think this is what happened: the old man had heard the fight between the boy and his father a few hours earlier. Juror Eight rarely showed his temper, except when discussions went off topic. He never once changed his mind on the verdict of the young man, and gradually presented enough evidence for the rest of jurors to persuade them to reconsider the outcome of the young defendant. Juror eight was a quiet and thoughtful gentleman, but he was not afraid to voice his opinions.
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