An Intriguing Interpretation of Twelve Angry Men

This piece, by Tim, helped me look at a piece of literature in a new way. Reading it was one of those great moments in teaching when a student reveals that even though I've read something a million times (OK, that's a slight hyperbole) there is still more to mine. I'm not sure if this is what the author of the play intended, but it sure explains the moral complexities of this play.

The theme, “sometimes we are too quick to judge” is an excellent theme that resurfaces many times in the story Twelve Angry Men. Many characters such as Number Eight are too quick to judge someone. For example, Number Eight says, “He is only nineteen years old!”(14). That shows that Number Eight is judging to boy to be innocent because of his age. The boy might not be innocent which shows that Number Eight is too quick to judge. He also States, “Ever since he was five years old his father beat him regularly with his fists”(21). That shows that Number Eight is judging the boy on what has happened in the past but not in the present.

Typically, we look at all of the other jurors being too quick to judge, but even these two examples show that maybe the hero of our story, Number Eight, is just as guilty.