Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose follows the account of a court trial in 1957 America, with a nineteen year old boy who is on trial for the homicide of his abusive and oppressive father. The jury, consisting of twelve men of varying ages and backgrounds, are locked in a room in order to deliberate and consider the future of the young man. All of the evidence and eye-witness accounts put forward are against the young man and if given a guilty verdict is reached, the punishment will be death. In the play they are not referred to by their names, but rather the number corresponding to their juror position for example, Fifth Juror or Tenth Juror.
Justice
As the play that depicts the consultations of a jury in a homicide trial, Twelve Angry Men is generally represents the complex concept of Justice. However the play does not represent either the American criminal justice system or the dynamic idea of justice as basic or clear. According to an article by LitChart, A straightforward representation of the criminal justice …show more content…
Despite the fact that they have deliberated comprehensively and a majority vote of not guilty is reached, the play’s representation of justice remains to be complex. While the 12 men arrive at a conclusion that the decision will be not guilty, it is not based on the assumption that they have proved the boys innocence, but instead because the case of the defendant was not beyond a reasonable doubt. As a result, the play represents through this theme that absolute justice is a concept past the compass of any jury framework and that the possibility of an absolute truth where there is equity and justice is not achievable if humans are