Juror #8 was the most important juror in the play Twelve Angry Men for a number of reasons. The first reason is that when all the other jurors voted guilty without even thinking about their decisions, Juror #8 suggested that they talk about it before jumping to conclusions. Even when some of the other jurors got mad and started yelling at him, he stayed calm and tried to work things out in a mature fashion.
The second reason is that he convinced Juror #9 to change his vote to not guilty. This was an important step because it paved the way for the other jurors to change their minds also. The third reason is Juror #8 re-enacted scenes from the night of the murder in order to prove his points. The first reason Juror #8 was the most important juror is that when all the other jurors quickly voted guilty, without discussing it first, he suggested that they talk about it for a little bit.
When asked if he thought the boy was guilty or not guilty, he said, “I don’t know. ” This shows that he hadn’t decided one way or the other. When asked why he voted this way, he replied, “ It’s not easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first. ” This shows that he wanted to talk things over with the other jurors before he makes a decision. Later on he said, “I just want to talk for a while. ” This is more proof that he wanted to discuss the issue.
The second reason Juror #8 was the most important juror is because he convinced Juror #9 to change his vote to not guilty. This was important because if no one changed his or her decision in the second vote, Juror #8 said he would change his vote to not guilty. However, Juror #9 did change his vote giving Juror #8 more time to talk about the case. Juror #9 said, “He gambled for support and I gave it to him. I want to hear more.”
By convincing one person to change their vote, it forced everybody to listen to more arguments, and possibly change their thinking on the case. The third reason Juror #8 was the most important juror is that he re-enacted scenes from the night of the murder in order to prove his points. The first time Juror #8 re-enacted a scene was when he proves that the old man could not have walked from his bedroom to the hallway in fifteen seconds. He did this by measuring how far his bedroom was from the hallway, and then walking it himself. It took him thirty-one seconds, making it impossible for the old man to have made it in fifteen. By doing this re-enactment, he changed the minds of several other jurors.
With the points I have given, Juror #8 is the most important juror. Not only did he do what he felt was the right thing to do, but he also may have saved a boy’s life. For these reasons Juror #8 is the most important juror in the play Twelve Angry Men.
