12 angry men(1957)
In this selection, Juror 8 attacks the various fallacies that his fellow jurors are using to support a 'guilty' verdict. Using specific vocabulary terms and concepts from the course (do not use the Aristotelian Appeals), (a) analysis essay of this excerpt. Demonstrate your knowledge of key course concepts by describing Juror 8's argumentation techniques and (d) how he overcomes at least one of the counterarguments given by another juror.
Page 56 Twelve Angry Men Act III Act III Twelve Angry Men Page 57 FIVE. Wait a minute! What's the matter with me? Give me that knife. [ Reaches out for knife. ] EIGHT. I want to know-is the kid smart or is the kid dumb? EIGHT. Have you ever seen a knife fight? FOUR. What do you mean? FIVE. Yes, I have. EIGHT [moving U C, so that he is standing back of men at EIGHT. In the movies? [Passes knife to FIVE. ] upstage side of table]. This is a kid who has gone to the FIVE. In my backyard. On my stoop. In the vacant lot across reform school for knife fighting. The night of the murder the street. Too many of them. Switch knives came with the he bought a knife, a switch knife. It would then take a very neighborhood where I lived. Funny that I didn't think of it stupid kid to go and murder a man, his father, with an in- before. I guess you try to forget those things. [Flicks knife strument that everyone would associate with the kid. open.] Anyone who's ever used a switch knife would never THREE. I quite agree, he's dumb. have stabbed downward. You don't handle a switch knife EIGHT. However, if he were dumb, then why did he make the that way. You use it underhanded. [Illustrates.] kind of wound that an inexperienced man would make with EIGHT. Then he couldn't have made the kind of wound that a knife? killed his father. FOREMAN. I'm not sure I understand. FIVE. I suppose it's conceivable that he could have made the EIGHT. To murder someone must take a great emotion, great wound, but it's not likely, not if he'd ever had any experi- hatred. [Moves over to left of FOREMAN.] And at that ence with switch knives, and we know that the kid had a moment he would handle the knife as best he could, and a lot of experience with switch knives. trained knife-fighter would handle it as he had been trained, THREE. I don't believe it. underhand. . .. [Makes underhanded motion.] A man TEN. Neither do I. You're giving us a lot of mumbo-jumbo. who had not been trained would go overhand. . . . [Makes EIGHT [to TWELVE]. What do you think? overbanded motion, ] But the kid is being very smart. Every- TWELVE [hesitantly]. Well-I don't know. one knows that he is an experienced knife-fighter-so he is EIGHT [to SEVEN]. What about you? smart enough at that moment to make the wound that an SEVEN. Listen, I'll tell you all something. I'm a little sick of amateur would make. That man is a smart man. Smart this whole thing already. We're getting nowhere fast. Let's break it up and go home. enough to wipe the fingerprints away, perhaps even smart EIGHT. Before we decide anything more, I would like to try to enough to wait until an el train was going by in order to pull this together. cover the noise. Now, is the kid smart, or is he dumb? THREE. This should be good. [Looks around. ] FOUR. He has a right. Let him go ahead. THREE. Hey, now, wait a minute! Two. Do you want me to time this, too? [EIGHT looks at Two. ] NINE. Well, the woman across the el tracks saw the murder FOREMAN. Let's hear him. through the el train, so someone in that el train could have TWELVE [getting comfortable]. I'm in advertising. I'm used seen the murder, too. to the big shots pulling things together. Let's chip up a few EIGHT. A possibility, but no one did that we know of. shots to see if any of them land on the green. NINE. It would take an awfully dumb man to take that chance, EIGHT. I want you all to look at this logically and consistently. doing the murder as the train went by. THREE. We have. Guilty. EIGHT. Exactly. A dumb man, a very stupid man, a man swept rohahly he heard nothing: he probably didn'tPage 58 Twelve Angry Men- Act III even hat the train writing. And whoever did murder the father did it as well as he could. FOUR. So? EIGHT {mowing bare to .55: place, at right end of table, not sitting]. The kid is elm-rib enough to do everything to asso- ciate himself with the switch knifee switch knife murder -and then a moment after the murder he becomes smart. The kid is smart enough to make a kind of wound that would lead us to suspect someone else, and yet at the same instant he is dumb enough to do the killing as an el train is going by, and then a. moment later he is smart enough to wipe ngerprints away. To make this boy guilty you have to say he is dumb from eight o'clock until about midnight and then about midnight he is smart one second, then dumb for a. few seconds and then smart again and then once again he becomes stupid, so stupid that he does not think of a. good alibi. Now is this kid smart or is he dumb? To say that he is guilty you have to toss his intelligence like a pancake. There is doubt, doubt, doubt. [Beats mole will: st as be emptie- Jize: word "doubt.\" FOUR. I hadn't thought of that. EIGHT. And the old man downstairs. 0n the stand he swore that it was fteen seconds; he insisted on fteen seconds, but we all agree that it must have been almost forty seconds. NINE. Does the old man lie half the time and then does he tell the truth the other half of the time? EIGHT. For the kid to be guilty he must be stupid, then smart, then stupid and then smart and so on, and, also, for \"IE kid to be guilty the old man downstairs must be a liar half of the time and the other half of the time he must tell the truth. You can reasonably doubt. [Sits again. There is a mo- . men: of silence] SEVEN [breaking silence}. I'm sold on "reasonable doubt." TWO. I think I am, too. srx. I-wsnted more talk, and now I've had it. EIGHT [fan]. I want another vote. FOREELAN. Okay, there's another vote Called for. I guess the Act-III Twelve Angry Men Page 59 quickest way is a show of hands. Anybody object? [No one done] All right. All those voting not guilty raise your hands. [harem Two, FIVE, six, seven, EIGHT, NLNE, ELEVEN Md TWELVE Mire their band: hemediatel}. FORBMAN look: amend ladle corefelly and then be, too, raise: his band. He looks erased table, roaming shorty] Nine. [Hoods go 110%,] All those voting guilty. [forms MEE, POUR and TEN raise their bench] Three. [They lower their bands.] 2 The vote is nine to three in favor of acquittal. . TEN. I don't understand you people. How can you believe this kid is innocent? Look, you know how those people lie. I don't have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is. And let me tell you, theyhfnve gels of) from table, ism: 6i: bark to it and goes to window.]--don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either. You know, they get drunk, and bang, someone's lying in the gutter. Nobody's blaming them. That's how they are. You know what I mean? Violent! [NINE gets up and goes to window and looks out. He 1'; followed by ELEVENJ Human life don't mean as much to them as it does to us. Hey, where are you all going? Look, these people're drinking and ghting all the time, and if somebody gets killed, so somebody gets killed. They don't care. Oh, sure, there are some good things about them, too. Look, I'm the rst to say that. [EIGHT get: .9}! end than we and so: follow him to wisdom] I've known a few who were pretty decent, but. that's the excep- tion. Most of them, it's like they have no feelings. They can do anything. What's going on here? [FORBHAN gm rap and goo: to window, followed 5y SEVEN end TWELVE] Im speaking my piece, and youlisten to me! They're no good. There's not a one of 'em who's any good. We better watch out. Take it from me. This kid on trial . . . [THREE rm at table toying with knife m roux gm up and item toward TEN. All the other Junougjaeye their bats tamed on new] Well, don't you know about them? Listen to me! What are you doing? I'm trying to tell you something. . . . [POUR
