Twelve Angry Men: Act 3 Summary & Analysis

The Guard enters the jury room because he heard the shouting. The Foreman says there's nothing wrong and returns the diagram of the apartments. The jurors are silent. Three ask them what they're looking at, but everyone is silent. Eventually Four points out that he can't see why they're behaving like children. Eleven says they have an important responsibility to decide on the guilt or innocence of another person and they shouldn't make this a personal decision.

Nine thanks Eleven for reminding them of their opportunity to be unbiased judges. Four says he's glad that they can be civilized about this process. Six proposes another vote. Three says he wants it to be an open ballot vote, so they know where each juror stands. The Foreman, Three, Four, Seven, Ten, and Twelve vote guilty. Two, Five, Six, Eight, Nine, and Eleven vote not guilty. The vote is evenly split.

Three says that he's ready to declare a hung jury. Four asks Eleven, Two, and Six why they changed their minds. Six says it seems the old man did not see the boy run downstairs nor could he have heard the scream. He also says that if the kid did yell, “I'm going to kill you” then Three’s actions show that this doesn't mean anything about intent.

The Foreman says he doesn't think they'll ever agree on anything. Eight points out that at first he was alone, but now five others agree with him. Three says that he'll never be convinced. Twelve says they’re a hung jury. Eight insists they won't be a hung jury.

The Foreman proposes another vote to determine whether or not the jurors think they're a hung jury. Eleven says they can't even agree on whether or not the window should be open. The other jurors agree to a vote on the question of whether they’re a hung jury. This vote will determine whether or not they’ll keep discussing the case. This vote is split 6 to 6 as well.

Four decides to change his vote and says, “we are not a hung jury” because he believes the kid is guilty. The discussion must go on. Four asks Two why he changed his mind. Two says that Eight seemed confident and made good arguments, while Three grew angry and mean. Four says these considerations don't change the guilt of the boy.

Four says he doesn't think there is a doubt. He says that the track of the train is straight in front of that building and that trains are loudest when going around curves. Therefore, the old man might have heard a high-pitched scream. Four also asks, what if the old man was wrong about how long it took him to get to the door, but right about seeing the kid running down the stairs? He points out that the absence of fingerprints on the knife must mean that the killer took time to wipe the fingerprints away.

Four says that it may have taken the murderer about 39 seconds (the same time they calculated it took the old man to move from his bedroom to the hallway door) to clean the fingerprints and get down the stairs, so the old man could have seen him. The Foreman says that they reconstructed the old man's movements and timed them, so they should also reconstruct and time the crime.

Three is very supportive of Four as he starts to outline his reasoning. He offers the knife to Eight, saying he can do the stabbing in the reenactment, but Four says he'll do it. Three proposes that Seven be the one to be stabbed and fall. Four asks whether the murderer might look at his victim for a second or two. Eight says that seems reasonable. Three points out that the father may have writhed around for a few seconds, and the kid may have stood there watching. Perhaps the kid held his father’s mouth to prevent him from crying out.

Four also points out that anyone who would wipe the fingerprints from a knife would pay attention to other incriminating clues. The jurors should take into consideration the time it takes to wipe fingerprints off the doorknob, as well as the knife. Four appeals to Two to time this reenactment as well. Two waits for a few seconds, saying he wants the second hand to be at 60 and then stamps his foot. Four reenact the crime. He cries out, “I'm going to kill you,” stabs downward, Seven collapses, Seven writhes, Four stares at him, Four cleans the knife, he looks around to check the room, he rushes to the door and clean the doorknob on both sides, before calling to Two to stop. Two says that took 29 and a half seconds.

Four points out that their reenactment didn't take the time it took the kid to run down the stairs into consideration. Four says the old man may have been wrong about the time it took him to move to the door, but it is still reasonable to assume he might have seen the kid running down the stairs. Four says the old man’s story may well be true. Eight agrees, except for the fact that the old man swore it was only 15 seconds. Eight says they are now accusing the old man of lying in one case and telling the truth in another.

Two says that he will change his vote once more back to guilty. Six says he's not sure and wants to talk some more. He says he's “sort of swinging back toward guilty.” Eleven says he is now in real doubt. Five says, “guilty. I was right the first time.” The vote is 9 to 3 in favor of guilty.

Eight asks one more question about the old man downstairs. He wants to know who among the jurors lives in an apartment building. Eleven says he doesn't, but he remembers visiting the scene of the crime with the other jurors and reminds them all of how dark the hall was and how they stumbled on the steps. Eleven says the old man claims he recognized a running figure in that very dark hallway. Three says Eleven is just making things up.

Twelve says that they ought to admit they are a hung jury. Eleven asks Seven if he truly believes there is no reasonable doubt. Seven says yes, and Eleven questions whether he understands the term “reasonable doubt.” Seven angrily asks who Eleven is to talk to him like that. He says that Eleven came to America running for his life, and now he's telling another man how America works. Four says no one is asking where anyone else in the jury room comes from or where their fathers come from. Eight says maybe it wouldn't hurt them all to learn from an immigrant because they are not without fault.

Seven apologizes and asks Eight if that apology was what he was looking for. Eight says it was. The Foreman says that they should all stop arguing and focus on constructive ideas only. Two says there's something that's been bothering him: the stab wound made at a downward angle. Three says that was gone over in court extensively. Two says he wasn't convinced. It seems like the shorter kid should not have stabbed his taller father with a downward stroke.

Three says that he'll demonstrate how a shorter man could kill a taller man with a downward stroke of a switch knife. Eight stands up and Three takes the knife before crouching down to be 6 inches shorter than Eight. He opens the knife and holds it up before stabbing downward. Two cries, “look out!” But Three stops the knife just shy of Eight's chest. Six and Five don't find it funny, although Three laughs.

Eight says that nobody's hurt and Three says that he just demonstrated how he'd stop a taller man. Six says, “I guess there's no argument.” Eight asks Six if he's ever stabbed a man and Six says no. Eight asks Three who also says no, so Eight asks how he knows how a stabbing is done. Eight wants to know if Three has ever seen a man stabbed. Three has not.

Eight points out that the kid was an experienced knife fighter; he was sent to reform school for stabbing someone else. Eight says that holding the knife overhand seems like an awkward way to handle it. Five suddenly exclaims that he has seen knife fights before in his community. “Far too many of them,” he says, and adds that it's funny he didn't think about this before, but he guesses that one tries to forget those kind of negative memories.

Five says that a switch knife is always used underhanded, and that anyone who has used such a knife before would never stab downward. Eight confirms that the kid could not have made the type of downward stab that killed his father. Three and Ten are not convinced. Seven says that they're not making any progress.

Eight asks for the chance to try to pull this evidence together. Eight requests that the jurors look at the situation logically and consistently. He asks them: is the kid smart or is the kid dumb? Eight says that this kid is experienced with a switch knife, and it would take a very stupid kid to buy a knife and then murder a man with that knife on the very same night. Eight says it would take a smart kid, on the other hand, to remember, in a moment of great emotion and anger, to use a different type of stabbing that would not be associated with him. A smart kid would wipe the fingerprints away and might wait until the train was passing in order to cover the noise of the murder.

Nine says that because the woman across the tracks saw the murder, someone else on the train might've also seen the murder. It would take a dumb kid to take that chance. Eight continues the kid is dumb enough to use an obvious switch knife, but then becomes smart in the moment of using that knife. He's dumb enough to kill his father as the train passes, but smart enough to clean the fingerprints. For the boy to be guilty, he would have to change from dumb to smart and back again. He would have to be dumb enough that he couldn't even come up with a good alibi. This much inconsistency shows that there is a reasonable doubt.

Eight says that the old man downstairs swore it took him 15 seconds to move from his bedroom to the door, but it must've been almost 40 seconds. Nine asks, can the old man lie only part of the time? Eight says that for the kid to be guilty he must be both stupid and smart and for the kid to be guilty the old man must be a liar and not a liar. All this leads to reasonable doubt. Seven says that he now feels a reasonable doubt.

Eight calls for another vote and the Foreman says they will vote by show of hands. He asks that all those voting “not guilty” raise their hands. Every hand is raised except those of Three, Four, and Ten. Ten says he cannot understand how others believe the kid is innocent. He says that "those people" always lie and that they don't feel the same way about killing as others do. He says that violence is part of their natures and that they don't care about human life. As he speaks, Five gets up from the table and goes to the window, then Nine gets up and goes to the window, and then Seven does.

Ten says that “those people” are always drinking and fighting and that if someone gets killed it doesn't matter. Eight, Two, and Six go to the window. Ten says he's known some of these people and they have no feelings. The Foreman, Seven, and Twelve go to the window. Ten says these people are no good and this kid is one of them. Three stays at the table, while Four gets up and moves towards Ten. Ten wonders what's going on and why no one is listening to him. Four stands over him until Ten grows silent.

Four threatens Ten that if he speaks up again he'll “split [his] skull.” There is a long pause. Four tells everyone to sit down and the jurors return to their seats. Four says he still believes the boy is guilty and that the most important evidence comes from the testimony of the woman across the street. Three instantly agrees, also saying that this is the most important testimony.

Eight suggests they go over the woman’s testimony in detail. Four says that the woman explained how she went to bed at 11 o'clock next to the open window, and that from the window she could see into the window across the street. She was unable to fall sleep and turned to the window at 12:10 AM. She saw the kid stab his father. Four says that in view of this testimony, he can't vote “not guilty.”

Three says that the other evidence is unimportant compared to this testimony. Four says that Eight has made good points, but how can they doubt the story of the woman. Six wonders if they could go home and finish their discussion in the morning, mentioning that his child is sick. Eight asks Two if he can see the clock without his glasses. Two says he can't see it clearly.

Eight asks Two what he does when he wakes up at night and wants to know the time and Two says he puts on his glasses. Four says he lies in bed and waits for the clock to chime. Eight asks Two if he wears his glasses to bed. Eight points out that the woman who testified was wearing glasses. Eleven excitedly remembers that she wore bifocals. Four says it’s funny that he hadn't thought of that.

Eight says that he suspects the woman wouldn't have put on her glasses to glance out the window. The lights went out a second later, and she wouldn't have had time to put her glasses on. He says this woman may have thought she saw the kid in the act of killing, but she might have only seen a blur. Three wonders how Eight could know these ideas he proposes.

Eight asks if anyone still thinks there is not a reasonable doubt. Ten says he thinks there is doubt. Three says that he still votes “guilty.” Four says he is convinced there is a reasonable doubt. Eight tells Three that he's alone. The Foreman says that there are 11 votes for “not guilty” and one for “guilty.”

Eight asks Three for his arguments in favor of the kid’s guilt. He says that they have time to keep discussing the case. Three appeals to Four, reminding him that he was the one with all the great arguments and he can't change his mind when a guilty man is going to be walking the streets. Four apologizes, acknowledging that he's rarely wrong, but that he was in this case.

Three says that the others won’t intimidate him and that it will be a hung jury. Eight says that there is nothing the rest of them can do about that. Nine comments that it takes a lot of courage to stand alone, which echoes his earlier admiration for Eight’s ability to do so, while showing that he doesn’t believe Three is capable of standing alone. Four says that with a hung jury there will be another trial, but, in the meantime, some of the jurors will bring these considerations to the defense lawyers, which will help the accused in the retrial.

Three surrenders. The other jurors rise and the Foreman goes to the door. The Guard lets all the jurors out except Three and Eight. Eight says to Three that they're waiting on him. Three takes the switch knife and walks over to Eight. He looks at Eight and holds the knife, in proper underhanded switchblade style, in the direction of Eight’s belly. Eight says firmly, “not guilty.” Three hands the knife to Eight, handle first. Three says “not guilty.” Three and Eight exit the jury room.