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Decision Making In Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men

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Through the play, ‘Twelve Angry Men’ established in 1957, the playwright, Reginald Rose signifies the importance of both rational attitude and emotions when making crucial decisions. Gathering on the “hottest day of the year” in a “large, drab, bare” jury room is throbbing for most jurors’ present. They have gathered to reach a ‘fair’ verdict and follow the judge’s instruction to “deliberate honestly and thoughtfully” as prejudice and experiences cloud their judgements. Whilst every juror has a different approach to the case, Rose demonstrates that both emotion and reason are used in the process of decision making. Taking decision without the interference of personal life leads one taking a fair judgement. The jurors vote relies on their emotions …show more content…

He suggests that biased opinions hinder one’s power to think logically. Juror 3 and Juror 10, who despite being grown up in an open community have narrow viewpoints. Juror 3 is close-minded, biased and has subjective attitude towards the case. Along with him, Juror 10 is a bigot and narrow-minded. The play is set in a claustrophobic environment which suggests the restricted thoughts of some jurors who are unable to think beyond what they believe in. On the other hand, Juror 11, despite being an “immigrant”, has full faith in the American Judicial System and allows himself to take decisions logically rather than emotionally. He explains other jurors that they have no “right to play with the boy’s life”. Juror 4 passionately tries to influence the jury into “[talking] facts” whereas he himself is obscured by the truth that he himself is giving opinions. Rose conveys to the audience that people who take decisions based on emotion are not always accurate.

In the play, ‘Twelve Angry Men’, Reginald Rose gives importance to the balance that must be sustained when making crucial decisions. Rose shows how one’s opinion can affect their decision making in professional life, jurors should view the from both perspective before making a verdict and how few jurors think emotionally when making decision. Through the characters portraying both emotion and reason when making decisions,

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