Persuasive Techniques In 12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a play involving twelve men who are serving jury duty for a court case involving a young man facing the death penalty. This young man is facing this charge for killing his father with a switchblade. The old man who lives under the defendant said he heard the young man yell “I’m going to kill you” followed by the sound of someone falling, and then saw the man on the staircase. There is also a lady, who lived in the building next to them who says she saw through a passing elevated train car window the young man stabbing his father. Even with this evidence juror number eight brought up the idea to the other jurors that the defendant may be not guilty. He used many of the persuasive techniques that were taught this semester to get his point proven to the other jurors.
This juror was respectful from the start, …show more content…
One of the times he did this was when he asked a fellow juror who wore glasses if he slept in glasses. Obviously, he said no. By doing this he could point out the fact that one of the witnesses wore glasses. This wouldn’t have been that important if that witness had not said she was trying to fall asleep when she saw the defendant stab his father through the window of a passing train car outside her window. Why would the witness be wearing glasses if she was trying to fall asleep, and if she wasn’t wearing her glasses how is she sure it was the defendant who stabbed the father? Another occasion he brought up something the jury would be familiar with is when he asked who had ever lived or worked near a train track. Bringing up this question, reminded the jury that being beside a train track is extremely loud. There is no way that an older gentleman could hear a man yelling upstairs when a train is roaring by this window. By bringing up these flaws that the jury could relate to in the witnesses’ testimonies, he increased the number of votes towards the defendant being not