Tuesday, April 9, 2019

What is the response of Juror #8 to the other Jurors' attempts to change his mind in Twelve Angry Men?

After the jurors take their initial vote and Juror #8 is the only one to vote "not guilty," he tells the others, "I don't believe that it is as simple as A, B, C." He also challenges Juror #3, who thinks that the defendant looks guilty, by asking him, "Are we to vote on his face?"
Juror #8 also tells the others that "it's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first." Even though all the other jurors are initially against him, he withstands the pressure to conform because of the seriousness of the punishment the young man will face. He has the intelligence and strength of character to challenge the others who initially want a guilty verdict for a variety of reasons: a desire to go home, prejudice, anger issues, and personal weakness. He insists on the application of reason and, in doing so, leads his colleagues to think more deeply, especially about the unreliability of the eyewitness testimony. A major turning point comes when Juror#3 lashes out at Juror #8, who calls into question the seriousness of the often spurious threat, "I'll kill you."

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