How Does Patrick Henry Use Ethos In Speech At The Virginia Convention Center

In Patrick Henry’s,“ Speech in the Virginia Convention,” he explains to the President as well as the government at the time on how a war with Britain is completely necessary in order to gain full independence for America. Henry uses a proud tone to inspire his audience, simple and complex sentence structure to convey straightforward details, patriotic and passionate diction to bring an uprising of emotion, and ethos to ethically support the main idea.

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

Modern historians often claim that Patrick Henry tended toward demagoguery and propaganda in his 1775 Speech to the Second Virginia Convention. I agree with these modern historians on the basis of Henry’s constant use of emotional appeals (pathos) and rhetorical devices such as parallel syntax, allusions, and irony to name a few. While he did have ethical (ethos) and logical (logos) appeals, the majority of Henry’s word choice and sentence structure showed that his speech was made up of emotional appeals that included both demagoguery and propaganda.

Patrick Henry’s speech is to persuade the audience to go to war with Great Britain. He does this flawlessly by using the following rhetorical strategies: imagery, repetition, and emotion including other rhetorical strategies, such as rhetorical

The fight for American independence was a long, arduous struggle, but many great literary works aided the battle. One such example is Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention”. Given in 1775 at the Virginia Provincial Convention, Henry aims to convince listeners of the futility of peace with Britain, and that they should join the efforts for the inevitable war. To accomplish this, Henry uses many different persuasive techniques and rhetorical devices. In Patrick Henry’s “Speech”, Henry uses techniques such as rhetorical questions, allusion, and emotional appeal to convey the point that the United States must rebel against Britain.

First, Patrick Henry, author of “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, uses allusions and rhetorical questions to convince his

During the Revolutionary War, writers and orators publicly revealed their thoughts on how to respond to Britain’s further subjugation of the American colonies. After a futile hope for reconciliation and failed petitions to the British government, several patriots, such as Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry, called for the colonists to take up arms against the British. Through Paine’s Common Sense and Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, they displayed an adamant message for the colonies to fight immediately. Both used the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, and logos within their respective works, and their various applications to the three elements allowed for their arguments to reach all ears and influence the majority of the population towards the fight for independence.

Writing to an audience that still lacks the desire to oppose the British, Patrick Henry in his "Speech to Virginia House of Burgesses" focuses on the rights of man and defying oppressors. Through figurative language, rhetorical questions, and diction, Henry heightens the necessity to rise up and fight against the British ruling power over the colonist population in Northern America.

In the Speech to the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry, the author uses multiple literary devices and a unifying tone to support his claim for the Americans to go against British oppression and to

Henry stated, “No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights (Henry).” Henry recognizes the evident differences in beliefs that the colonist has. Henry goes on in his speech to say, “The question before House is one of awful moment to this country, and I consider is as nothing less than question of freedom or slavery (Henry).” Henry determines the colonists must make an ultimate decision. By utilizing the words ‘slavery’ and ‘freedom’, he created a hope for the colonist to hold onto and to create fear in the colonies. Henry appeals to the colonist’s religion because it was relevant to the revolutionary cause. Henry stated, “Should I keep back my opinions at a such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and an act of disability toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings (Henry).” Henry denounced the King when he stated Majesty of Heaven. Doing this, he informs the colonists that God was on their side. By associating God with the war, Henry utilized the use of pathos and ethos. Patrick Henry’s speech refutes his opponent’s beliefs that there was no need for battle with the British. Henry stated, “It is natural to man to indulge in the

In the “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry persuades the Loyalists to fight England. Through several main rhetorical devices, he uses allusions, diction, appeal to ethos, and rhetorical questions. With these strategies, gives the audience different perspectives on Patrick Henry’s speech. For example, allusions. He used that rhetorical device to give a visual image to his audience.

Henry began his speech by emphasizing that although he is patriotic towards Britain, he has a different view on how to handle conflict with them. One of his most genius strategies is not discrediting the audience’s views, but delicately showing them a different one. “Different men often see the same subject in different lights” Henry builds ethos by expressing a religious passion. He shows himself as a Christian fighting for god. Henry attempts to show the illusion of hope by being the bearer of bad news.

“Sincerity- Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly.”

Politician, Patrick Henry, in his speech, “Speech to the Second Virginia Convention”, delineates his views on what action to take in regards to the conflict with Britain. Patrick’s purpose is to address the Virginia Convention to prepare for war if Britain does not meet the colonists’ demands. He adopts a passionate, dramatic, upset, and stern tone in order to persuade the Virginia convention, specifically President Randolph, to concur with his predicament. This tone can be seen through the literary devices of antithesis, rhetorical questions, parallelism, and Biblical allusions.