The Jury System In Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men

The delivery of a righteous and just verdict is depicted in Reginald Rose 's naturalistic play, Twelve Angry Men. On the surface, the use of rationality and morality is demonstrated to create an honest deliberation of justice. However, despite this depiction of the American jury system, Rose raises an awareness of the questionable integrity and efficacy of the jurors and the jury system. On a deeper aspect, Rose underscores human subjectivity as the main inhibitor to a righteous judgment, whilst showcasing the solutions to combat this intrinsic nature. Through this, Rose elucidates his humanistic view to the audience that in order to achieve justice, one must not only approach judicial conflicts with humility but to also critically questioning …show more content…
The integrity and efficacy of a jury system sources from the instigators of justice, however, Rose portrays all humans to possess vested-interest hence inhibiting one 's honesty and ability to deliberate. The "plain-stupid" lawyers as 8th juror mentioned, depicts the unreliable jury system, as with "no money, no glory", men with no motivation are unable to honestly deliver a righteous judgment. This is similarly demonstrated through the actions of the old man 's testimony; as "every man seeks recognition", it insinuates that no one 's testimony can be truly justified and honest. By extension, Rose questions the ability of the systematic approach to be able to deliver justice. Additionally, Juror 8 is constantly highlighted as a defender of democracy, always reminding other jurors of their "grave responsibility" in the pursuit of reasonable doubt. While his presence serves a great role in the denouement, it leaves audience thinking on the hypothetical situation of a jury without men of conscience, riddled with prejudice and amorality. Rose encapsulates this through the motifs of the "playing cards" and "tic-tac-toe", all games of chance. Not only does Rose illustrate the lack of concern of some juries, but it also depicts the random nature in the selection of the personalities of the juror; the element of chance is unreliable as one gambles on the probabilities. Rose foreshadows these potential problems through the "large drab bare wall" and the "knife on the table", symbolising the two-dimensional, unreliable nature of some jurors as well as the flawed, and damaged judicial system, respectively. Thus, Rose embodies the play with moral and ethic question on the American judicial