Rhetorical Analysis Of Ann Rowling's Speech

Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, reflected on the benign qualities of President Ronald Reagan, with whom she worked closely with in office, in her eulogy to the American public. Her purpose was to emphasize Reagan’s hardworking, reassuring, and friendly personality through the use of different rhetorical strategies, in order to create a sense of pathos. Thatcher was able to pay her respects and covey her meaningful message by using anecdotes, parallelism, and contrast.

“I am not here to represent Leonidas. His actions speak louder than my words ever could”, although Queen Gorgo believes this to be true, it is evident that her words still make quite the impact. The speech that was chosen for analysis was Queen Gorgo’s request of Sparta’s council to send their forces to the Battle of Thermopylae, from the movie 300. This speech was chosen simply for the fact that I have always enjoyed this movie and that I’ve always admired Queen Gorgo’s character. Although she does not immediately convince the council of sending Sparta’s army, her actions that follow do. Through the use of pathos, metaphors, and an urgent tone, Queen Gorgo is able to make a strong case to the council as to why they should aid King Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Jane Addams’ speech explains her stance of George Washington's legacy as a soldier, statesman, and a Virginia planter. In this speech, Jane Addams references George Washington’s accomplishments in his past, including how things would be if he is to be present today. The most significant uses of rhetorical devices in this speech include hypophora, rhetorical questions, enumeratio, distinctio, and metaphors.

Ben Franklin is known for a slew of accomplishments in his life as a Founding Father of the United States. An inventor and author, among other occupations, Ben Franklin grew quite a fan base in his lifetime, despite having such progressive beliefs. One of his most progressive pieces of writing, “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” discusses the inequality surrounding laws against having children outside of marriage, specifically regarding how it impacted women. In Benjamin Franklin’s “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” Franklin uses wit to effectively argue that the sexist punishments of laws against having children out of wedlock are absurd by appealing to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos through the voice of Polly Baker (Baym). Ben Franklin

Queen Elizabeth’s Speech records the famous speech which, inspired,lead and motivated the English Army towards victory., who were assembled at Tilbury Camp to defend the country against the Spanish Armada. The successful defence of the Kingdom against the invasion boosted the prestige of England's Queen Elizabeth I and encouraged English pride and nationalism. In the speech, Elizabeth motivates her troops by using Ethos,to establish credibility, and Logos, to appeal to logic, reasons and facts.In addition, she uses diction for word choice, tone, and anaphora to deliver inspiration and motivation to the English Army which would lead them to victory towards the Spanish Armada.

Willa Cather has a great understanding of diction and thoroughly displays it in My Antonia. Anton Jelinek, a newly arrived immigrant from Bohemia, still calls Italians, “Eytalian … kawn-tree … we was showed in” (69) and mispronounces country and does not yet understand English grammar. He comments that, “I make my first communion very young,” (71). Jelinek’s informal dialogue fits his character because he is an immigrant and has just barely started to learn English. Therefore, his bad grammar, his accent, and mispronunciations make sense for who he is and where he came from, especially when taken into account where he is in his life. In contrast, Jim, who grew up in America and is native to the land, has a highly developed vocabulary and comments on how things are, “taciturn … [or] queer,” (72) and notes that Krajiek, “shrunk along behind them,” (75). He describes the, “bluish air, full of fine eddying snow, like long veils flying,” (76) and uses the words, “propitiatory intent” (77). Jim has a more formal language and is more educated that the immigrants of the towns. It is logical because it is written from the view of Jim as an adult looking back. As he looks back, he finds more complete words to describe situations that when he was actually in them. Jim’s vocabulary enlarged over time, so changes in how he describes his memories or reasonable.

Queen Elizabeth I is considered to be one of the most powerful women in history. In 1588, as ruler of England, she was faced with an invasion against Spain for control over trade in the new world. Her “Against the Spanish Armada” speech was addressed to the English Army at Tilbury Fort to help motivate and boost assurance, as well as showing support to her troops over the battle they were about to face. With her passionate words and courageous way, Queen Elizabeth establishes a connection with her soldiers; appealing to their patriotism and emotions through logos, pathos, and ethos. Although she was uncertain of a “famous victory”, Elizabeth instills the reassurance they need to fight against Spain and leading them to victory in the end.

The Queen of England, Elizabeth I, in a speech to her troops at Tilbury in 1588, motivates the troops by reminding them of the loyalty of the English subjects and the great power of England. They are in the midst of a war against Spain, and it is obvious that the Spanish armada will soon be approaching, and a battle will soon commence. The Queen’s purpose with her speech is to motivate her troops, to inspire patriotism for their country so they will fight more ferociously and with greater vigor than before in the war against Spain. She does this by adopting a regal, honorable, and reverent tone, asserting her authority while still giving the troops the respect they deserve in a way that shows her loyalty and appreciation for them. She wants her country to win in the war against Spain, which is why her speech must be powerful and elicit strong, immediate responses from her audience.

Florence Kelley was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. Throughout her speech to the Philadelphia Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she stresses the importance of changing the working conditions that are in place for children. By using child labor as her baseline, Kelley is able to talk about her main point, which is her suggestion for women’s rights with the help of repetition, strong word choice, and opposition.

Hundreds of students, parents, and faculty members gathered and created an audience to witness J.K Rowling’s speech at Harvard University in 2008. J.K Rowling is a well-known author, famous for her Harry Potter book series, and much more. Rowling’s speech was well thought out, and delivered excellently, with three main points she addresses throughout the speech. The three points being: failure can lead a person to success, never give up hope on your dreams and aspirations, and lastly Rowling emphasizes the importance of imagination. Sometimes we fail to see that the obstacles in our life help shape the road to our success in the future, and Rowling points out to us that failures and obstacles is what helped us become successful , and to never ignore that.

Emma Watson revealed that she started questioning gender based assumptions, “ When at 14 I started being sexualised by certain elements of the press,” she said.

Steve Jobs used three anecdotes to describe the success and failure in his life. Steve Jobs used a lot of details about all his anecdotes and explained each one well. He said, “The first story is about connecting the dots.” “My second story is about love and loss.” “My third story is about death.” Whereas J.K. Rowling didn't use any anecdotes, but what she did use was an example of how she thought she had failed on an epic scale. She said, “An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” J.K. Rowling didn't say much about her life other than this one sentence. She didn't give many details like Steve Jobs did in his speech.

In 2008, author J.K. Rowling wrote and gave a commencement speech to the graduating class of Harvard University. Rowling aptly named the speech “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”. In this speech Rowling tries to convey the message that failing can be beneficial or an individual and that people should not be afraid to use their imagination. Rowling begins the speech with a reflection on what went through her mind while writing the speech and how the process affected her. During this time Rowling asked herself what she wished she had known at her graduation and came up with the two main ideas of this speech; the merits of failure and significance of imagination. Rowling explains the benefits of failure by using her own personal failure of living in poverty with her daughter and what that failure taught her. For the significance of imagination, Rowling describes it not in terms of how it helped her out of poverty, but of how it opens up people to the world and other individuals around them.

Last year in September Emma Watson, an UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, launched an new campaign called HeForShe to stop gender inequality. Emma’s speech became quite popular, as it shed light on the topic in a new understanding. In her speech Emma invited men to participate in the campaign as well. “Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.” - stated Watson. What makes her speech different from other feminists, is involving both men and women in the issue, and capturing more people to participate. Also, young woman explained feminism in a new unique way. She mentioned couple times, that word “feminism” gone in the wrong root nowadays, and often associated with man-hating, which

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default (qtd. Rowling The Fringe Benefits of Failure).” This quote by J.K. Rowling at the Harvard graduation in 2008 is a perfect example about how she is as a person. She has gone through many failures and is now a very successful author. She encourages everyone to reach for their goals. You will probably fail a couple times but in the end it will be worth it and you will profit from the hard effort. Joanne (J.K.) Rowling is a truly inspirational person that has benefitted to the lives of people of all ages around the world through her children books.