Rhetorical Analysis of Ellen DeGeneres's Commencement Speech Essay

Pink delivers a very well organized speech. He opens the speech very strongly when he states- "I need to make a confession…” – creating a mystery and drawing the audience in instantly. The hilarity woven into the opening invokes a strong amusement from the audience. He frames his speech as a case study and not a story, which emphasizes the purpose of the speech as a learning opportunity for the audience –"I don’t want to tell you a story. I want to make a case. I want to make a hard-headed, evidence-based, dare I say lawyerly case for rethinking how we run our businesses.” (1.34). with this thesis statement, Pink states his intention in a very effective manner drawing fully, the attention of the audience. He institutes a framework around

Steve Job’s commencement speech in 2005 at Stanford University, which is one of the best university in our country was very memorable and inspiring for Stanford graduates and also for audience listening to speech. In his speech, Jobs inspires students and audience to pursue their dreams and always to follow their heart no matter what even though things don’t always go according to plan and never give up. Steve Job is mainly known for his contributions in the technological world but along with that he is also recognized for his world-renowned presentations. Jobs’ simplicity in delivery and extensive use of rhetoric makes his speech effective and comparable to speeches of famous narrators. In this commencement speech, Jobs uses simplicity in the structure of his speech along with the use of rhetoric such as ethos and pathos besides usage of personal stories to make this speech effective in inspiring his audience and making it memorable.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.

Criticising others takes a great deal of courage, especially when this criticism could reflect upon one’s own work. However, in the introduction of her speech to the Women’s National Press Club, Clare Booth Luce utilizes changes in tone, humor, while appealing to ethos, and pathos to prepare her audience for the impending criticism.

The rhetorical essay has been a tradition in public speaking since Ancient Greece. Meant to persuade an audience to believe an idea or to embrace a way of thinking, public speakers have utilized this technique for centuries to inspire change in those who listen to it. Carrie Chapman Catt's commencement speech to the 1936 graduating class at Sweet Briar College is a speech that exemplifies the key devices and methods of persuasion in rhetoric, as well as inspiring her audience, a girls-only institution of higher learning, to work hard not only to improve their own lives, but to create a world greater than their own for generations to come. Carrie Chapman Catt delivered a highly effective commencement speech using the rhetorical devices logos,

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.

    The speaker is able to use three rhetorical devices, being ethos, logos, and pathos, when talking to the audience about the time she had spent

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.

The rhetorical devices found in the speech that Jane Addams wrote are hypophora, metaphor, conduplicatio, enumeratio, and personification. Each of these devices has a purpose in the passage, with the author combining all of the devices to strengthen her essay.

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.

The Farewell Address embodied Washington’s political principles and hopes for the United States, a newly developed nation, to grow strong and remain independent. He stressed the importance of national unity. Despite the confidence Washington had for his country to continue to thrive without his leadership, he felt obligated to forewarn the American people and future generations the greatest dangers, or threats, to the United States. Washington believed threats such as political parties, and associations with foreign alliances could weaken the nation. Today, it is believed that the Farewell Address is a prophetic warning for contemporary politics.

Aristotle wrote that we can be persuaded by three things: reason (logos), the character of the speaker (ethos), and our own emotions (pathos).

Rachel Carson purposely uses ethos, a means of convincing someone through an ethnic appeal, in her book Silent Spring. Using a variety of means of persuasion, she pleads to the readers in ways that affect them personally. She starts in chapter one, “A Fable for Tomorrow” by first describing the perfect world. Carson then proceeds to portray a fabricated story of the perfect storm scenario of chemical poisons in the atmosphere. She further clarifies this is not an attack, but rather self-infliction. From there, she describes in details the underlying problems brought upon humans by the chemical poisons used to control insects in chapter two, The Obligation to Endure. It additionally specifies the layout of the history of intervention by

Susan B. Anthony inspired to fight for women’s right while camping against alcohol..along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton also an activist, Anthony and Stanton founded the NWSA . Which helped the two women to go around and produced The Revolution, a weekly publication that lobbied for women’s rights.She also went on saying that if women ever wanted to get reaction men had…only thing stopping them,..having voting rights. An american social reformer and women’s right activist who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement, also a teacher who aggregate and compare about nature. She gave the “Women’s Rights to the Suffrage” giving outside the jail she was going to be held in, she gave this speech in person in 1873 and her audience were mostly white women that want virtues like men. Also men that wanted to put women in their place and friends of her and fellow citizens. Her main points are that women needed power that men had. Growing up in a quaker household she knew that women needed honor as men just like slaves experience getting their freedom. In Women’s right to suffrage Susan B. Anthony uses tone, reparation,and logos which dematices why women should have equal morality and voting abilities as men.

During the nineteenth century, the question of slavery in the United States was growing. As a result, the country was divided, and a new political party, known as the Republican Party, was formed on the basis that slavery should not spread. In 1856, Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president. This caused an uprising in the south that led to a civil war. The war raised questions about equality, and women were hoping that it would end with an increase in rights for everyone. Unfortunately, women were left in the same position as before after the war. Thereafter, Suffrage movement was started, working to give women the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony is one of the most well known suffragists; however, many do not realize that she was actively involved in an abundance of other