Twelve Angry Men Study Guide

Quote Section

Key quotes and who says them:

Plot/Packet Section

Background of Twelve Angry Men

• Play by Reginald Rose

  • Originally from Rose’s 1954 teleplay made for CBS Studio One

  • Broadway debut came 50 years after CBS aired play on October 28, 2004 at the American Airlines Theatre

• Civil vs. Criminal Trial

  • Criminal - crime against the state

  • Civil - case is essentially a dispute between private parties

    • Twelve Angry Men is a homicidal trial, meaning it is a criminal case

• Diagram

• Old man was in the room directly under the crime scene and was able to hear “I’ll kill you” and a thud.

• Old lady said she was directly across crime scene room and could see kid stab his father (but now we know she probably couldn’t see)

• Timeline

• Recent Criminal Justice Legislation

  • Crime Victim’s Restitution Act - sets guidelines for the payment of mandatory by perpetrators of federal crimes to their victims

    • “allows a suit against the defendant for loss of wages, property damages, and medical expenses.” says Google

    • Important for white collar crimes (usually crimes about money)

  • Law Enforcement’s Officer Liability Act - places a heavier burden of proof on the plaintiff (person placing the suit) in civil rights cases against officers. Restricts compensation on punitive damages to an officer to 10k in criminal court but not civil

  • Violent and Hardcore Juvenile Offender Reform Act - provides federal financial assistance and more for state and local juvenile justice system

  • Cali Governer Pete Wilson spoke out about barring cameras in state courtrooms because of the OJ Simpson case and 1935 Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial (photographers stood on tables to get better shots)

  • Some states want to give more powers to jurors like how in Arizona, they passes a law allowing jurors in criminal trials to ask questions of witness after having approval from both sides

  • States like California are considering not requiring unanimous verdicts. They want to permit 10-2 votes to pass a verdict.

• Reginald Rose Biography

  • Grew up in NY

  • Enlisted after Pearl Harbor and was a First Lieutenant in the Philippines and Japan until 1946 (so basically when WW2 ended in Sep. 1945)

  • He was inspired to write Twelve Angry Men after he was called to jury (in 1954) for a manslaughter case. Jurors fought and didn’t decide a unanimous verdict until 8 hours later

  • He was nominated 6 times for the Emmys, and won 3. 

    • won the Berlin Golden Bear, Writers Guild of America, Lifetime Achievement and three Mystery Writers of America awards

• Mark Nunez Critic Article

  • Twelve Angry Men demonstrates the imperfections in the American Jury system

  • Because we are humans and not machines, justice demands a system

  • Argument where jury system does work because jury is not trained to distance from a case like how a lawyer does

    • They argue why is it bad to take your past experiences and use them for decisions in jury

    • “Are they [jurors] not called upon to speak on behalf of the diverse community in which we live in?”

  • Exposes how sometimes jurors abandon reason and that justice cannot be achieved if jurors are just able to vote guilty or not based on a whim

  • His message: although jury system is flawed, justice can still be achieved

    • So abandoning system is not the answer

Lady Justice Section      

The Parts of Lady Justice:

• Blindfold - represents objectivity or freedom from bias

  • Justice should be given without consideration of race, class, background, etc.

• Scale - represents the weighing of evidence and facts; measure of a cases strengths and oppositions

  • Usually in left hand

• Double-edged sword - represents the power of reason and justice that can be wielded for or against any party

  • Usually in right hand

  • “Right hand of justice will strike you”

• Book/scroll - represents knowledge

• Snake - represents evil 

Why don’t the jurors have names? Are they allegorical? 

• They do not have names because they are allegorical. Some main allegorical characters are:

  • Juror #3 - sadism

  • Juror #4 - reason

  • Juror #7 - anti-immigrant

  • Juror #8 - leader/justice

Act One Comprehension      

• Judge explains that conviction of the defendant comes with a death sentence and that if there is any reasonable doubt, they must vote “not guilty.” All votes must be unanimous, otherwise they are declared a hung jury (this meaning there will be a retrial with new jurors)

Act Two Comprehension      

Act Three Comprehension      

Vocabulary (Sentences) Section 

• Prosecution - (n.) the government attorney charging and trying the case against a person accused of a crime

• Acquittal (n.) - a setting free from the charge of an offense by verdict, sentence, or other legal process

• Verdict (n.) - the formal decision or judgment rendered by a court at the conclusion of a trial or legal proceeding 

• Premeditated Homicide (n.) -

  • (Premeditated (adj.) - characterized by fully conscious willful intent and a measure of forethought and planning

  • Homicide (n.) - an intentional killing such as murder or a killing in self-defense

• Defense counsel (n.) - a defense counsel, also known as a Defense Attorney, is a lawyer who helps someone who is accused of doing something wrong. They work to protect the rights of the person they are representing in a court case, whether it is a criminal or civil case

• Defendant (n.) - an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law

• Proof (n.) - the evidence used to either support or ascertain that something happened or that a person's statement is true

• Deliberate (v.) - analyzing and carefully considering the evidence, facts, the law, or other matters 

• Evidence (n.) - the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid

• Testimony (n.) - oral or written testimony evidence given by the witness under oath during a trial or other legal procedures 

• Jury (n.) - A jury is a group of people empowered to make findings of fact and render a verdict for a trial

• Double Jeopardy (n.) - Double Jeopardy prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substantially the same crime

• Hung Jury (n.) - A hung jury is a jury that  is unable to reach a verdict by the required voting margin. A hung jury will often lead to a retrial of the case

• Ad Lib (n.) - to improvise especially lines or a speech. 

• Reasonable Doubt (n.) - a doubt based upon reason, common sense and insufficient evidence and is not based purely on speculation

• Sadist ​​(n.) - a person who derives pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain or humiliation on others

• Abstain (v.) - to choose not to do or have something; to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice; to choose not to vote

• Doggedly (adv.) - in a very determined way, even if something is very difficult; in a manner that shows grim persistence 

• Fifth Amendment (n.) - guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids “double jeopardy,” and protects against self-incrimination

• Glower (v.) - to look at someone or something in an angry way 

Literary Devices used (example based)

Literary Terms:

• Drama - Any kind of fictional performance – usually a play, but also including short skits, vaudeville shows, musicals, etc. Anything with actors counted as drama, even when it was a comedy.

• Foil - Someone or something that serves as a contrast to another

• Foreshadowing - gives the audience hints or signs about the future. It suggests what is to come through imagery, language, and/or symbolism. It does not directly give away the outcome, but rather, suggests it.

• Tone - does not mean quite the same thing in literature as it does for the way people speak, but it’s pretty close; it refers to the “feel” of a piece of writing. It’s a more complex and general quality than, say, an “angry tone of voice”; instead, it is closer to the meaning of “style” or “voice” in writing, possibly referring to any or all of the stylistic qualities of the writing, such as formality, dialect, and atmosphere. 

• Symbolic/ism - A symbol is any image, character, setting or thing that stands for something else. It could be as simple as a letter, which is a symbol for a given sound (or set of sounds). Similarly, every word is a symbol for the idea it represents.

• Hyperbole - a figure of speech in which an author or speaker purposely and obviously exaggerates to an extreme. It is used for emphasis or as a way of making a description more creative and humorous

• Analogy - An analogy is a literary technique in which two unrelated objects are compared for their shared qualities. Unlike a simile or a metaphor, an analogy is not a figure of speech, though the three are often quite similar. Instead, analogies are strong rhetorical devices used to make rational arguments and support ideas by showing connections and comparisons between dissimilar things

• Simile - literary term where you use “like” or “as” to compare two different things and show a common quality between them. A simile is different from a simple comparison in that it usually compares two unrelated things. For example, “She looks like you” is a comparison but not a simile. On the other hand, “She smiles like the sun” is a simile, as it compares a woman with something of a different kind- the sun

• Metaphor- a common figure of speech that makes a comparison by directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing. Unlike similes, metaphors do not use words such as “like” or “as” to make comparisons. 

• Irony - When there are two contradicting meanings of the same situation, event, image, sentence, phrase, or story. There are 3 types in literature: dramatic, situational, and verbal. 

• Monologue - A monologue is a speech given by a single character in a story. In drama, it is the vocalization of a character's thoughts; in literature, the verbalization. It is traditionally a device used in theater-a speech to be given on stage–but not alone-- but nowadays, its use extends to film and television.

• Resolution - The resolution, also known as the denouement, is the conclusion of the story’s plot. It’s where any unanswered questions are answered, or “loose ends are tied.” Interestingly the phrase denouement comes from the French word dénouement meaning “to untie.” A story with a complete ending is said to have a strong resolution. All of the major conflicts are resolved. 

Themes:

• Justice - the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness

• Duty -  obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from one's position (as in life or in a group)

• poverty - the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions

• Family - Figuratively, underlying themes of family allude to connections and love within a community. It may also indicate individuals sharing a particular closeness, displaying emotions both loving and spiteful.

• Compassion - sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others

• Logic - a system of reasoning that aims to draw valid conclusions based on given information/proof or by using reason

Motifs:

1. Dealing with bigots

• Bigot - a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group

• Dealing with: Juror 10 is an example of a bigot and it is apparent during his monologue where he discusses opinion on people of color. The way jurors deal with this is they all go to the windows and turn their backs. This showed that they were siding with justice and unbiased.

2. Leader - the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. 

• For example, the foreman assumes the role of leader of the jurors, but other jurors took charge in starting conversations: Juror #8 takes charge of providing arguments to defend the accused and give him a fair chance. 

3. the triumph of reason over bias- 

• Reason - the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic. 

• Bias - prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

  • The reason over bias motif is presented when #3 finally puts aside his bias and stubbornness and votes not guilty, “[THREE turns knife around  and EIGHT takes it by the handle...] Not guilty!” (Rose 63)