Certainty vs. Doubt In “Twelve Angry Men”, 12 jurors are given the tough task to determine if an 18 year old boy is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. A variety of personalities are present at the table as the men discuss the boy’s future. After the jurors cast their vote, it is evident that one juror, juror #8, is the only one who voted not guilty. When asked why he thinks he’s innocent, he simply says, “I don’t know.” (12) This idea of doubt is exactly what drives the long argument that prevails. Doubt means, by definition, “a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.”(Merriam-Webster) Juror #8 wanted to explore the case because he was not certain. His uncertainty leads the play. Doubt gives possibility to other outlooks
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They would not have gone back other and fished out the flaws if it weren’t for doubt instigating whether they were genuine. Many people believe fibs or lies because they aren’t aware that it isn’t truth, just like in Twelve Angry Men. The jurors never had doubt even cross their mind because they didn’t feel the need to question it. This confidence (or certainty), is what gave way to error. Most people try to come up with a correct answer or solution when they face doubt, which is exactly what the jurors did. In the American criminal system, those charged with crimes need to be proven guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' Juror #8 was able to put enough doubt into their minds, by discovering contradicting points in the evidence, to prove to them that they could not be certain enough to convict the defendant. In the beginning, they first talk about witnesses. The woman who saw the murder was looking over “through the windows of a passing elevated train.”(15) She was able to see through the windows of the trains at night because “they proved it.”(16) Juror #8 points out how they “don’t believe the boy,” yet “she’s ‘one of them’ too.” (16) They come back to the lady’s testimony later in the book. Juror #9 started the discussion about her marks on her nose. These marks are from glasses, which means,
They would not have gone back other and fished out the flaws if it weren’t for doubt instigating whether they were genuine. Many people believe fibs or lies because they aren’t aware that it isn’t truth, just like in Twelve Angry Men. The jurors never had doubt even cross their mind because they didn’t feel the need to question it. This confidence (or certainty), is what gave way to error. Most people try to come up with a correct answer or solution when they face doubt, which is exactly what the jurors did. In the American criminal system, those charged with crimes need to be proven guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' Juror #8 was able to put enough doubt into their minds, by discovering contradicting points in the evidence, to prove to them that they could not be certain enough to convict the defendant. In the beginning, they first talk about witnesses. The woman who saw the murder was looking over “through the windows of a passing elevated train.”(15) She was able to see through the windows of the trains at night because “they proved it.”(16) Juror #8 points out how they “don’t believe the boy,” yet “she’s ‘one of them’ too.” (16) They come back to the lady’s testimony later in the book. Juror #9 started the discussion about her marks on her nose. These marks are from glasses, which means,