12_Angry_Men_Essay__Vce_English

Through his play 'Twelve Angry Men,' Reginald Rose explores the numerous factors which lead individuals to the feelings and responses they experience. The jurors provide the audience with a representation of the ways in which people in general can think and act as a result of their subjective experiences. Surrounding elements such as social context, the media and the importance one places on logic and rationale also mould the way we perceive things. As such, Rose intends for the audience to reflect on their own prejudices and biases, through the identification of these ugly, and perhaps parallel qualities identifiable in some of the jurors. Over the course of the play, Rose presents the audience with a table of characters, almost all of whom change their initial, an almost instinctive vote. Many of these transformations in thought are the result of a revelation based upon, or influenced in some way by, their own memories and experiences. The ninth juror, an elderly, overlooked man is softened by the eyewitness, who mirrors the meek, forgotten about traits identified in himself. He claims to 'know him better than anyone' else in the room, and his loneliness is clearly identified and provides a reason to distrust the eyewitness. An almost inevitable need to apply one's own experiences to a situation before them is presented by Rose, as throughout the play, the jurors almost unanimously reveal their emotions and reactions as being the result of, or shaped in some way by, their own familiarities and experiences. Rose is not condemning, or even necessarily critical of what he exposes as being a natural human tendency. He examines the necessity and place of subjective experience, and accepts and affirms it's role within everyday life. Quantitative logic and rationale are also revealed as being highly important to certain kinds of people, yet also key factors in other's decision making. The fourth juror's absolute focus on facts is gently critiqued by Rose, and although his intentions may be perceived by some as ultimately good, his constant desire to 'talk facts' appears as non-emotive, and at times, quite cold. Indeed, in the exploration of the fourth juror's character, Rose instantly draws attention to other characters almost contempt for genuine, factual data, replacing it instead with prejudice and bias. The tenth juror is the clearest example, a racist bigot whose opinions rely entirely on what he may consider truths or evidence, but upon further scrutiny are merely unjustifiable views, stemming from fear of the 'other.' While perhaps his explanations may skim across factual proofs, it becomes increasingly clear to the audience that their decisions are based solely on chauvinism and an anxiety of the unknown so strong that it reveals itself as hatred. It is also the attitudes and social expectations that we are surrounded by which have an effect on the way we think and the judgements we make. The rebellious teen culture, prominent in America at the time of the play is at times an underlying, invisible influence, while at others it is a concentrated factor, which highlights the role society's attitudes and values hold. The accused was a sixteen year old boy, and while obviously none of the jurors know him on any personal level, he is lumped together with the now negatively connoted word 'kids.' 'It's the kids, the way they are nowadays,' appears to be a subtle, general consensus, shared between those who have suffered personal loss, as well as those who appear as average, working class Americans. This is a powerful tool implemented by Rose to indicate to his audience the extent of which this notion has reached, that youth are something to be feared, that this perhaps innocent boy is merely one of those 'rotten' kids. Rose analyses the metamorphosis in thought, as what one thinks they should believe, or feels they are expected to believe becomes what they innately begin to value as truth. Ultimately, 'Twelve Angry Men' validates that in some cases personal experience is the strongest factor in the decision making process. Through the almost allegorical 'telling' of the play, the tactfully unnamed jurors represent a much larger cross section of general society, and Rose makes a much larger comment about general human nature and the tendencies of various types of people. Eventually, Rose celebrates in those who are able to separate their subjective experiences from their judgements, as well those able to look at logic independently from certainty. Lauren Brooker