Jury Duty In The Play '12 Angry Men'

Words: 534
Pages: 3

Josh R.
Mrs. Stern
7th Period
11/1/15

ACTION IN THE JURY ROOM

Jury duty requires every adult to serve their country and judge their peers in life or death circumstances. The play, 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, follows the story of 12 jurors, trapped in a jury room who are unable to come to a conclusion on an important court case. The seriousness of their duty and their obligation to listen to each other are key factors in the play that are portrayed through stage direction. Throughout the play, Rose uses stage direction to help convey the motif of patriotic duty.
One example of this is in the very beginning of the play, when the jurors are preparing to take their first vote directly after hearing the trial. During this scene
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During this scene Rose uses stage direction by stating, “The 12TH JUROR hands the pencil to the 3RD JUROR, who starts to draw what is obviously a tic-tac-toe pattern on the pad” (Rose 33). This quote demonstrates the lack of patriotic duty the jurors felt while analyzing the facts of the trial. The fact that they were playing game of tic-tac-toe on a piece of evidence clearly shows how the jurors were not taking their duty of serving on a jury seriously, putting the motif of patriotic duty into play.
The third example of stage direction is present towards the very end of the play when the all twelve jurors are just coming to a final and unanimous verdict. During this scene Rose uses stage direction by saying “The others are silent ”(Rose 72). When diving deeper into this extremely brief and vague quote, it is evident that it shows the attitudes of the jurors and the changes they have undergone throughout the play. This quote also conveys how the jurors are finally listening to each other, ultimately proving how they are finally taking their duty as jurors