Rhetorical Analysis Of Patrick Henry Speech

    In Henry’s speech, he first sets the stage by using a proud tone while explaining the importance of war with Britain. His illustrious delivery of the speech itself is very moving, as the efforts to convince America to settle on the side of war. He goes on to convey, “Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of  those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power” (Henry 38). His tone of taking charge and only accepting the best from his country supports the claim that Henry is indeed the proud man he is. Henry also in his speech uses an enlightening tone to inspire his crowd he uses terms to explain how he will settle for only the best for the country. He uses phrases such as, “The war is inevitable-and let it come!” (38). This phrase brings up the emotion of the crowd as they believe in war, and Henry himself is full of power as he enforces that war must go on. He uses such enthusiasm and inspiration to uplift himself and the crowd to ensure that war is necessary. Overall, Henry;s tone of the proudness and

At a tense meeting in a church in Richmond, Virginia, away from the watchful eyes of Britain, Patrick Henry began to deliver a rousing speech to the Second Convention of Delegates. His passion was tangible to the audience as he called the delegates to action. His speech was memorable to everyone in the room and powerful in convincing the delegates to support the war. Little did he know that this speech would continue to be known for its power and persuasion for generations to come. Throughout Patrick Henry's speech, he emphasized the necessity to act against Britain and support the war, but he did so in a way that was unavoidably persuasive. Henry used emotional appeal, metaphors, and rhetorical questions in order to convince the delegates

Throughout the entire speech, he creates emotion that affects the audience. He created emotion throughout the speech by using other rhetorical strategies, such as repetition, imagery, rhetorical questions, and allusions. By using repetition, he made the audience feel some guilt. In the repetition “Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves” creates the guilt-feeling towards the audience, because if Henry were right about Great Britain, then the audience would be in fault for not going to war with Great Britain. By using imagery, the images of an “insidious smile”, “delusive phantoms of hope”, and slavery and chains, creates an unpleasant image to the mind making the audience feel angry, empty, and fearful. Henry uses many rhetorical questions. The use of the rhetorical questions is a question that can only be answered with one right answer. This is because the question being asked is the truth. Sometimes the truth can be hard to hear and accept. As Henry asks these questions, “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?” he evokes fear towards the audience and perhaps anger. He also uses biblical allusions in the speech. He does this to create some credibility but also to provoke some trust from the audience. When Henry mentions God or the biblical allusion it comforted or delighted the audience to know that God is a role in his speech. Although Henry uses repetition, imagery, rhetorical questions, and allusions, he incorporated emotion to those three other rhetorical strategies used.

Henry is appealing to the patriotism and emotions of his audience by mentioning things such as “a question of freedom or slavery”, “the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country”, and “the very worth gentlemen who have just addressed the House”.

Henry is asking his audience if they would rather live a peaceful life of slavery or a life of freedom on their own terms. This rhetorical question is impactful because Henry”s audience is afraid of slavery, they don’t like the idea of being controlled by anyone. They know what the lives of their own slaves are like and they fear being put in that position. This makes the audience want to heed Henry's advice and go to war against Great Britain.

Throughout history, historical events have been relived and experienced by many in the present day through various scriptures and texts. From shocking testimonies, and inspirational speeches to intriguing journal entries, and questionable declarations, literature has allowed society, no matter the time, to go back and learn about past events that helped define the present society. Through these pieces of literature and their literary devices, readers are able to immerse themselves into the past by exposing themselves to historical figures’ persuasions and intentions through their creations. One of these pieces of literature that demonstrates these qualities is Patrick Henry’s Address to the Virginia Convention written in 1775. In Patrick Henry’s speech, he uses literary devices, such as diction, tone and syntax, to help the readers understand and relate to the author’s purpose in calling the Virginia Convention to action for one of the most historical moments in United Stated history, the American Revolution. The author uses these literary devices to persuade and encourage rebellious behavior in the audience, by creating a unifying, inspirational and rebellious tone to get them to support America’s impending fight for freedom, liberty and independence from British oppression.

By utilizing the image of God being on their side, Henry is able to influence the audience into questioning their current strategies. He uses emotional words, phrases, and implications in each paragraph that connect to God in some way, strengthening his argument that his views are faultless. He respectfully conveys that by lacking war and not fighting Britain, they are displeasing God. “I consider it nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery” refers to the colonists’ need to fight. The powerful words “freedom” and “slavery” contradict each other as they bring both fear and joy to the audience as it portrays their future outcome, depending on what action they take right now.

"Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come", Henry proclaims, illustrating for the audience that the issue is one that is changed. In Lines 28-33, Henry uses Imagery to help the audience to recognize being backed into a corner and having no other choice than to fight on an emotional level. Henry uses negatively charged diction in phrases, like ‘But When, ‘When will the time come’, and ‘the truth of the matter is’ to construct a plea or call to action through an activation of pathos in hearts of the audience Elsewhere in the argument rhetorical questions are used to emphasize the point that the colonists must fight the British, effectively saying the audience to feel patriotic through the memorisation of Henry’s arguments. Appeals to emotion, in combination with the effective use of rhetoric, activate pathos in the audience without crossing the ethical line between argument and

He suggests that war is more immanent than it really is, “The war is acutely begun” (6). “The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms”(6). The war with Great Britain had not actually begun at the time that Henry delivered this speech, nor with the next strong wind would America hear the war taking place; however, both of these hyperboles delivered a shot of anxiety and nervousness to the other delegates at the convention which made them realize that America must act in order to gain its independence. This helped him achieve his purpose of persuading his audience to vote for war with Britain.

“Give me liberty or give me death!”, Patrick Henry shouts to those attending the Virginia Convention in 1775. This “Speech to the Virginia Convention”, given one year before the colonies declared war on Great Britain, was an attempt by Henry to inspire the colonists to rebel against the oppressive rule of England and fight to save their freedom. Patrick Henry persuades the Convention to wage war against the British through his use of rhetorical questions and allusions.

Henry appeals to this very effectively when he lists, “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne…” (Henry). The repetition of “we have” represents the actions the colonists have taken to get the British to respond to some of their demands. The parallel structure indicates that all actions are equally important, but they become more emphatic as the list goes on. The parallel structure of the final line of Henry’s speech, “…give me liberty or give me death!” shows the equivalence of the two subjects, liberty and death. He again states that one or the other will occur, and no compromise is possible. At this point, the people of Virginia carry massive respect towards Patrick Henry and are persuaded by his appeals and strategies. He gives the audience a chilling impact on the war. Henry points out that everyone is in it together and more specifically, he will be in it until death. He is very passionate about his ideas and will stand behind them until death does him apart which gives him more credibility; therefore, persuading the audience a great

Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?” (Henry 90). The rhetorical questions try to convince the Convention to truly think about starting the war by exaggerating the fact that America will be completely helpless if they do not act before England. Finally, the imagery applied gives the audience a clear view of what the battle will look like if they are not prepared when Great Britain comes. An example of this is when Henry claims that “the next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms” (Henry

Is there a limit to how many peaceful protests can be used as hostilities rise between two nations? Patrick Henry felt that there was a limit and it had been made clear in his speech at the Virginia Convention given in 1775 that the time for negotiation was over. Patrick was a lawyer and at the time of his speech, a representative of his region in the Virginia House of Burgesses. His speech was made to persuade people to fight back against Britain’s tyranny and start demanding instead of pleading that they stop taxing common goods for their own profit and nothing more. Patrick Henry’s usage of pathos was effective in his speech for reminding the audience of the warlike response Britain has given to peace and that other colonists are already fighting British soldiers as he speaks.

In Patrick Henry’s “Speech of the Virginia Convention”, he tries to persuade colonists to fight a war against the English. When Patrick Henry delivered his speech, it was a time of rebellion He did this speech to tell the people, there is no other option, but to go to war. To persuade the people, he must use several main rhetorical devices. For example, he uses these rhetorical devices, to appeal to the people: ethos, pathos, and parallelism. He does a good job throughout this speech convincing people to go to war. One quote that ties the whole speech together is, “Give me liberty, or give me death.” In this quote, Henry says that he would rather die, than live in a world, with no freedom.