Tension in 12 Angry Men

This essay will be discussing the methods used to increase and decrease tension by the playwright Reginald Rose in the play 12 Angry Men. The play takes place on a blazing hot day in the middle of July, and begins as some Jurors enter the jury room to discuss a murder committed by a young man. The jurors begin light conversation as they enter the small, hot and cramped room and find their seats.

They begin discussing the murder, and soon it is clear that the majority of the jurors believe the young man to be guilty and that they have no desire to sit and deliberate, they would rather talk about a baseball game, which starts at 7pm that evening.

Although they seem keen to dismiss the case with a guilty verdict, Juror 8 stands up and declares that there is room for reasonable doubt. He would like to examine the evidence thoroughly. Eventually this Juror persuades the others that the accused is not guilty.

Throughout the play, the playwright uses this conflict to inflame and reduce the tension. Reginald Rose uses a few methods to increase and decrease tension. We can firstly tell by the little things he uses. Some of these consist of the room being cramped and stuffy, the fan not working, and the weather. The different moods of the characters also make tension. Small things like these cut the tension in noticeable ways. The weather changes at one point into lightning, thunder and heavy rain and the fan starting to work.

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These examples break the tension that has been building in the room.

Whilst this is happening the mood of the jurors change too. As we know, this scene is set on a very hot day; coincidentally, we see that there is going to be tension because Juror 7 says, “This is the hottest day of the year”. To make even more tension, we see that in this tiny room, a juror is sweating and tries to turn on the fan, which doesn’t seem to work, making the already blazing hot room even hotter. The atmosphere is unstable because the heat makes the jurors insecure. The hot weather continues to make an impact on the mood.

In Act 1, Juror 6 says, “What a murderous day”, which is commenting on the weather and is a pun on the case itself being about murder. In Act 2 the weather turns bad, the vote is still guilty, so they take another vote. The vote is even: 6-6. At the same time the weather gets cool again and the foreman says “Wow! Look at that come down, will ya? Think it’ll cool things off? ” Juror 8 replies “Yeah, I guess so”. This signifies to the audience and the reader that the tension has broken. When the play ends the rain stops and the skies clear showing that the tension has been released and they have succeeded in breaking it.

The jury room is set in a random way There is a bathroom which is used to release tension; there are also other objects about the room which are used to increase and decrease tension. For example, the fan only works after the tension is released as the weather becomes cooler and the vote becomes 6-6. This can all reflect the jurors’ calm. The knife that Juror 8 leaves jammed in the table is a reminder of the tension that has been. It is revealed that the jurors are all different types of people with totally different backgrounds.

They are regular Americans, representing different strands of opinion in 1950s America. Tension increases in the play as each character’s personality and nature are revealed. However, this brought out the truth everyone as they all displayed their true emotions throughout the play. In conclusion, I think that the author used successful methods to increase and decrease tension. In the first half of the play there is much tension and emotion as the jurors fight and contradict Juror 8. At the beginning of the play, the use of weather increases tension and this breaks when the group votes 6-6.

You can see this reflected in the jurors: for example, Juror 3 is “dark with rage” after he shouts “I’ll Kill him, I’ll Kill him! ” at the end of Act 1. The jury room also adds to the tension when the guard outside locks the door. A juror says, “I never knew they locked the door”. This creates a feeing of panic and claustrophobia. Objects in the room itself play their part, such as the water cooler, where jurors go to cool down after an argument. This decreases tension as well. Overall, the playwright is successful in his aim.