Mrs Hanson
English II
27 January 2003

						12 Angry Men

	Courage and leadership play an important role in the story “12 Angry Men”, by Regenald Rose, because without out 

those characteristics an agreement of the verdict could not have been made.  Each of the men showed a great deal of courage 

and leadership throughout the entire play in one way or another. Some of the jurors showed more courage then others such as  

juror number 8 when he was the only one voting not-guilty.  Also other jurors showed more Leadership then others , as when 

Juror number 6 told juror number 3  to be more respectful to the old man. Both these, along with many more helped to progress 

the plot in to the resolution of the verdict being not guilty.



	Courage played an important role in play “12 angry men”, with out it the boy probably would have ended up in the 

electric chair.  If Juror number 8 hadn’t stood up for what he believed the kid would have been as good as dead.  number 8 

started to convince some of the other jurors that there is reasonable doubt and that it is possible that the boy might not of 

done it. for an example when he convinced the others that the knife the boy had was not the only one of its kind, that there 

were probably millions of the same type of knife, and that it could have been posible for someone else to have done the 

killing with the same sort of switchblade knife.  Standing alone against all of the other jurors took lots of courage, 

especially since the other jurors were so assertive. Another example of courage in "12 Angry Men" is when  #10 said bad things about minorities and #4 stood up to him and said " I've had enough.  If you open your mouth agian, I'm going to split your skull" .
	
	Leadership, along with courage, also played an important role in the play “12 Angry Men”. An example of this is when 

juror number 9 changes his vote from guilty to not guilty when juror number 8 says "lets take a revote, and if im still the 

only person who thinks that there is reasonable doubt, then ill change my vote to guilty". The old man was the only one who 

changed his vote to not-guilty and said "This gentleman [# 8] has been standing alone against us. Now, he doesn't say the boy 

is not guilty. He just isn't sure. Well, it's not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others, so he gambled for 

support - and I gave it to him". The forman showed a great deal of leadership keeping the room orginized and not letting 

things get out of hand.
	
	Courage and leadership both played an important role in the progression of the plot.  as more of the jurors became more assertive and started expressing their ideas on the subject the more flaws or holes in the evidence occured.  As more resonable doubt came up the more jurors switched their vote from guilty to not-guilty making the play more interesting as the play went on. 

	These two charichteristics are really good to have a a citizens.  We could all learn a lesson from "12 Angry Men" and that we should all think twice before making a decision.  we could learn to be more Assertive and stand up for what we think is right. not just go along with the croud.