Why Is Juror Number 3 Important In 12 Angry Men

Important Characters in 12 Angry Men
In 12 Angry Men, juror number three is a man of strong opinions, very little patience, and a strong annoyance of the whole trial taking place and the other people involved. To start of the play, juror number three shows his impatience by complaining, “Six days. They should have finished in two. Talk, talk, talk. Did you ever heard so much talk about nothing?” (page 3). Throughout the play, different sides of juror number three come out to be seen by the audience. One side is revealed when he has an outburst about his son, and his feelings about children these days. ““I’ve got a kid. When he was eight years old, he ran away from a fight. I saw him. I was so ashamed, I told him right out, “I’m gonna make a man out of you or I’m gonna bust you up into little pieces trying.” When he was fifteen, he hit me in the face. He’s big, you know. I haven’t seen him in three years. Rotten kid!”” (page 8) This
quote from the story shows that number three has a background with children that has caused him to believe that all kids are bad kids, no matter how they were raised. In another part of the story, number three shows his violent side by saying, “We’re trying to put a guilty man into a chair where he belongs..” (page 12) and also when juror three gets upset with juror eight (page 20-21), when number eight claims that number three is a sadist, and all he wants to do is pull the plug to kill the boy. At the end of the play we see that number three shows his defeated side. The jury is eleven to one in favor of acquittal and he sees that there is no longer hope for his belief, so he caves. “Then suddenly, his face contorts as if he were about to cry, and he slams his first onto the table. He thunders, “All right!” (page 30). He changes his vote to not guilty and walks out defeated. In 12 Angry Men, juror number eight plays a character that brings perseverance, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness to the story.
In the beginning of the play, he is the only person that believes the boy on trial could be not guilty. “There were eleven votes for guilty. It's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.” (page 5). This quote from the story shows that juror eight is willing to give the boy’s story a chance and that he deserves a for the jury to at least discuss the trial opposed to them all immediately voting that he is guilty. Throughout the whole play, juror eight tried, not to convince the rest of the jury that he was not guilty, but try to get them to understand that a boy’s life was on the line. He was trying to show them that there was reasonable doubt, by showing the men through demonstrations of what happened (page 20/24) and logical reasoning about simple observations during the trial (page 29). During the whole play, juror number eight brought a theme of
justice. Juror number four constantly throughout the play is leading the discussion. He asks for the other men to remain calm and collected by saying,”I don’t see any need for arguing like this. I think we ought to be able to behave like gentlemen” (page 5). Number four is a very proper man who tends to hold himself above the others in the jury. Although in one part of the story juror four says, “I've had enough. If you open your mouth again, I'm going to split your skull,” (page 27) to juror number ten. This is one of the only times that number four reveals a less professional side. He is also one of the last men of the jury to change his vote from guilty to not guilty, but he does it in a very sophisticated manner by going over the evidence provided the woman across the street gives about seeing the boy stab his father. Number four is a character of sophistication, patience, all in a professional manner.