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Persuasive Speech On Marbles Essay

Satisfactory Essays

Kristy Sar
10/29/15
Debate, Brown
Persuasive Speech Outline

Topic: National Treasures Should Be Returned To Their Country of Origin
Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to believe that stolen artifacts should be returned.

1. Introduction
A. 2 Rhetorical Questions
1. Would you like it if someone came to your house and stole your valuable belongings?
i. I know I wouldn 't, and I 'm sure none of you would either.
2. So why should any country 's artifact - a valuable belonging of theirs, be put up for display in another country 's museum? Specifically, ones that were stolen.
B. Comparative example to understand perspective
i. Imagine the Declaration of Independence or Abraham Lincoln 's casket being stolen and perhaps sold in the black …show more content…

2. The marbles are masterpieces of classical Greek sculpture that were removed from the Parthenon in Athens in 1801 by Lord Elgin, a Scottish nobleman and diplomat, who later sold them to the British Museum in 1816. (Downs, J.)
3. As with the Rosetta Stone, Britain has consistently refused to return the marbles to Greece due to the British Museum Act, a law passed in 1963 that forbids the removal of collections within the museum.

C. Babysitting
1. Museums claim that the artifacts they house are in better hands because they have the means to keep it safe and properly maintain it.
i. However, this reason no applies as we are now in an age where countries that were once unable to care for their artifacts, now can.
2. Another comparative example to understand perspective
i. We take care of one another’s’ children whose families are in trouble. But, we do not refuse to return the child to their parents because that would be kidnapping and therefore illegal.

D. Attempt in pressuring Great Britain to return marbles
1. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece attempted to pressure Great Britain for the return of the displaced marbles by announcing the building a brand new museum for them, the Acropolis Museum. Greece also announced pollution control measures installed have reduced sulphur dioxide levels in the city to a fifth of their previous …show more content…

Profit
1. At least Germany was honest in their reasoning with keeping Nefertiti’s bust. Countries like Germany and Great Britain have no right in continuing making profit off of other countries ' stolen treasure. They should return its stolen artifacts, and instead, thank the countries for being able to have made money off of what was not rightfully theirs to begin with. Basically, these countries not only stole artifacts, but large amounts of money that should have been made by the artifacts ' countries themselves.

III. Conclusion
A. Review/Clincher.
1. Cultural treasures should be displayed in the context in which they originated; only then can they be truly understood. In the case of the Elgin marbles this is an architectural context which only proximity to the Parthenon itself can provide.
2. If countries were truly interested in studying another 's artifacts, they could then borrow the artifacts on a long-term loan – an alternative solution.
3. Lastly, if you were also interested in archaeology, you wouldn 't want to have to visit a number of museums all across the world just to see objects from one civilization, would you?
i. Wouldn 't it be nice if all Egyptian artifacts were housed in Egypt, all Greek artifacts housed in Greece, and all other artifacts housed in their

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