Themes of Bias in Twelve Angry Men, Antigone, and Julius Caesar

While we always like to believe that we are rational and logical, we are commonly and constantly influenced by constant bias in our lives. Sometimes these biases are easy to recognize and sometimes they are far more difficult to notice. Bias affects our decision-making process throughout the entire day and influences how we think, how we feel, and how we behave. We are often incorrectly influenced by all types of people, for instance, we can be incorrectly diagnosed by a doctor but we are biased to believe everything they say because they are supposed to be professionals. We can also be biased because of our own beliefs. For example, If I was to see a horrific car accident because someone drank and drive, I would be biased to not drinking at all because I would believe that a horrible accident would happen because I simply had a drink. Bias can also be formed through a group of people. If I have a certain belief that is not true but others believe the same information then my own beliefs are causing bias in other people's minds.

Bias influences the story of Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Ross because the jurors are racist towards the young boy because of the color of his skin. The themes of bias continue to Antignone by Sophocleswith the thought that men are above women. The men of the time were biased to think that they were more powerful than the women of their society because men were considered to be strong and fearless whereas women were not viewed that way. In The Tragedy of Julius Cesar by William Shakespeare, Brutus is bias towards Cassius because Julius is easily persuaded to kill one of his close friends. This is a great example of how the beliefs of a group can influence an individual even though those beliefs are wrong and cause harm. Bias is everywhere in our lives and is clearly outlined in many forms in the plays, Twelve Angry Men, Antigone, and Julius Caesar.

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In the play Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Ross everyone has a bias. For example at the beginning when the foreman takes a vote, “7 or 8 hands go up immediately several others go up more slowly. Everyone looks around the table…”(Rose,1,14). This shows that right away eleven out of the twelve jurors think that the boy is guilty. This means that the jurors have bias towards the fact that he is guilty because they don't even want to discuss the case before they might wrongly convict a young boy of murder. However juror Eight responds saying, “I don't want to change your mind. I just want to talk for a while. Look this boy has been kicked around all his life…”(Rose,1,16). This shows that juror Eight actually cares about the case and what could happen to a possibly innocent boy. This means that he has a bias towards the kid being not guilty elaborating that just because hes comes from a bad background doesn't mean hes a murderer. In conclusion, the theme is evident because of the jurors being biased and unbiased toward the kid.

In the play Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose everyone has a bias. For example when juror Nine and Ten are arguing Ten says, “You're not going to tell us that were supposed to believe him, knowing what he is. I've lived among ‘em all my life. You can't believe a word they say. You know that.”(Rose,act 1,19). This shows that he believes the boy is guilty because of his race and background. This means that he is biased against the boy because he is being prejudiced and stereotypical. Another example is when juror Eight is talking to Ten about evidence he says, “ I'd like to ask you something. How come you believe her? She's one of ‘them’ too, isn't she?”(Rose,act 2,27). This shows that juror Eight acknowledges the fact that juror Ten is racist and stereotyping the boy and his community. This means that juror Eight is still biased towards the boy because he knows some of the jurors are racist and prejudiced towards African Americans. This furthermore proves the theme of bias in the play by the jurors changing their biases on the kid.

In the play Antigone by Sophocles, everyone has a bias. For example, Antigone talking about Creon says, “Creon buried our brother Etocles with military honors, gave him a soldiers funeral, and it was right that he should; but Polyneices, they fought as bravely and died as miserably, -- They say that Creon has sworn no one shall bury, no one shall mourn for him (Sophocles, act 1, 15-19).” This shows that Creon buried one of the brothers with a huge amazing funeral but left the other to rot away in a field. This proves that Creon is biased towards Eteocles because of how much he did for him and not Polyneices. Another example is when Anti