Juror Three

Juror Three is the last juror to change his vote; nothing anyone says can convince him that there is a "reasonable doubt" in the case. This man was the most stubborn of all. He refused to pay attention to things that were being stated in order save the defendant from death. It was as if the word guilty seemed to dwell in his mind and was unable to be altered. He becomes outraged that the others are changing their votes and letting this kid "slip through their fingers." He says that the whole case is based on the testimony of the woman across the el-tracks. The jurors play out the murder to themselves, and talk about the lady across the street. They notice several things about her. The lady claimed that she saw the murder through the last two cars on the train that was passing. A juror also noticed that she had indents in her nose which means she wore glasses. She never mentioned the glasses in the trial. It was finally agreed with eleven jurors that there was "reasonable doubt" that the lady could not have successfully seen the murder without her glasses, and through a train. Everybody is angered and the votes gradually change to not guilty, some come from people that honestly believe it and others who just want to leave and get it over with. Juror Three, who deadlocked the jury, was full of anger. He finally gave his plea of not-guilty when, angered, he shouts out that he is entitled to his opinion and shall have it. A couple minutes later he caves in, most likely due to the anger he has combined with frustration. He had gone into the case thinking the boy is guilty, before any evidence was even resgistered into his head. The Juror acted as if no ones opinion counted but his, and talked above everyone else. Juror Three gave into the pressure of the jury, realizing that he shouldn't have voted guilty to punish the boy for the memories he had of his son. He brought his personal life into play, following his heart instead of his head.

There are some people in life who like to make things more difficult for others, the way Juror Three did. He was stubborn and did not wish to see anyone else's point of view. One will always have a "Juror Three" in his life. It is up to a person to take a stand like Juror Eight, and fight for what he believes in even if it is against the majority.

This essay will compare & contrast the protagonist/antagonist's relationship with each other and the other jurors in the play and in the movie versions of Reginald Rose's 12 Angry Men. There aren't any changes made to the key part of the story but yet the minor changes made in making the movie adaptation produce a different picture than what one imagines when reading the drama in the form of a play.

First off, the settings in the movie are a great deal more fleshed out. In the play, the scene begins with the jurors regarding the judge's final statements concerning the case in the courtroom and then walking out into the jury room. In the movie, the audience is placed in the role of the invisible casual observer, who for perhaps the first 5 minutes of the movie, walks throughout the court building passing other court rooms, lawyers, defendants, security officers, elevators, etc. Not able to remember much about this particular part of the movie, I believe this introductory scene's purpose was to either enhanced the realism of the setting by emphasizing the court building's efficient, business like manner or to provide a timeslot in which to roll the credits for producer, director, stars, etc. The settings aren't only built upon through use of scenery and extras in the movie. Invisible and distant in the play, we see in the movie the judge, bailiff, those witnessing the trial and most importantly of all- the defendant. This is an important change because in the play, we are free to come up with our own unbiased conclusions as to the nature and identity of the defendant, whom we only know to a be a 19 year boy from the slums. Seeing his haggard and worn face in the movie changes all of that, yet for better or worse, it engages the audience deeper into the trial as they surely will sympathize with him and can gain some insight into why, later, Juror 8 does so as well. Of final note in this summary of points concerning the differences in setting, the jurors all mention the heat wave affecting the city when they begin, and as it agitates them, it serves to heighten the tension between each other and their resentment or other feelings towards jury duty. Oh- also lastly, I think we can infer that the movie takes place in Manhattan, New York City. Which jurors are from which boroughs is easily obvious and yet I'm hesitant to say that the defendant could be from any of them- slums were persistent in those times.

Concerning the characterization of the cast and their conflicts with each other, the movie holds