What Does Juror 4 Mean

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Machine or Human? The 1950s was the time of the third major Industrial Revolution where machines are seen in every city and act accordingly with neither change nor emotion in every step they take. Similar to these machines is Juror #4 from the drama playwright, Twelve Angry Men, by Reginald Rose. In the play, twelve men in 1957 are presented with a case regarding a boy committing murder to the first degree, with Juror 4 and the other ten believing he is guilty, while Juror 8 believes he is innocent. Ultimately, this leads to Juror 4 and Juror 8 to use their wits and reasoning to persuade the other jurors to choose between “guilty,” or “not guilty.” In the drama Twelve Angry Men, Rose indirectly characterizes Juror #4 as reasonable, in order …show more content…

For example, Juror #4 counters Juror #11 with, “two points. One: in his state of panic he may not have heard the scream. Perhaps it wasn’t very loud. Two: if he did hear it, he may not have connected it with his own act. Remember, he lived in a neighborhood where screams were fairly commonplace” (Rose 40). Juror #4 does not attack Juror #11 himself for what he said but instead explains why he believes the defendant is guilty. He brings up facts that are relevant to the situation and his argument to make it more persuasive. While Juror #4 does hypothesize, it is a reasonable assumption due to all of the evidence he has already listed as well as the evidence brought in court. Moreover, Juror #4 describes how the witness “saw the killing through the windows of the passing el train. She says that the lights went out immediately after the killing but that she got a good look at the boy in the act of stabbing his father. As far as I can see, this is unshakeable testimony” (Rose 66-67). Most of the other jurors twist the facts and speculate in order to change it in their favor. However, Juror #4 does not do this and instead states the witness’ testimony as is, he does not add his personal opinion to it or tells the testimony in an overdramatic way. He simply states the facts to persuade the other jurors to believe the defendant is guilty. Essentially, J4