Rhetorical Devices In Patrick Henry's Speech

Henry also used many metaphors to give a clear picture to the audience in order to dramatize the current conflict. Toward the beginning of the body of his speech, he called Britain sending troops in response the colonists’ rebellious activities as “war-like preparations” and said they “cover[ed] our waters and darken[ed] our land.” There he compared Britain sending troops to a “cover” or a shadow, making them seem like a heavy burden or threat. This comparison painted them in an ominous and untrustworthy light without Henry directly declaring that the British soldiers were untrustworthy. Later in the speech, Henry compared submission to the to slavery, saying, “It is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission in slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may

Throughout his speech, Patrick Henry uses logic and presents information so the colonists cannot argue with data that can easily be proven true. At the beginning, Henry presents the fact that Britain responded to America’s petitions in a hostile way. “Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our lands” (Henry 102). In other words, when Britain was given the Americans’ petition, they retaliated by sending their

Finally, what I consider the most powerful technique Henry uses is the fallacy of appealing to emotion. Henry talks about various actions that the colonists have already taken to protest the English government, such as, “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated…” By doing so, the audience is reminded of all these things that have been done, only to realize that they have failed. Henry “reveals” that the English government has only denied them and turned them down each time. “Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned…” This quote builds up anger in the audience, creating great contempt for the British. The colonists start to feel as though the British have no intention to care about them and will take advantage of Americans every chance they get.

In his speech, Henry uses rhetorical devices to suggest that Americans need to join the cause for the looming war. The first use of rhetorical questioning occurs about halfway into his speech, when he proposes, “…what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us into submission?” (Henry 102). During this timeframe, Britain sent in troops to quiet the rebellious acts of the citizens, such as the Boston Tea Party, where Americans dumped 10,000 pounds of British tea into Boston Harbor. In this quote, Henry takes a different perspective, implying that the British sent these troops in to submiss the colonies, to keep them firmly under British control. This affects his audience by making them feel inferior to the British. Towards the end of his speech, Henry mentions that, “Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle?” (Henry 103). Henry refers to the open resistance in Massachusetts, and the people already fighting for independence. In his rhetorical question, Henry probes why most Americans stand by while others actively participate. This proves his point that America must go to war immediately, and that some already agree with him. These rhetorical questions are just two examples of Henry using literary techniques to convince listeners to go to war with Great Britain.

Patrick Henry displays coherent parallelism in order to highlight the hardships the colonies had to endure while fusing balance and technique in doing so. Parallelism, or parallel structure, is a literary method defined as the

While attempting to change the minds of members of the Virginia House of Burgesses, to whom he is speaking, Patrick Henry of various unsuccessful ways of protesting the oppressive British rule. Henry reveals coherently what he feels the next steps should be in regards to the British. Henry dexterously uses his diction to make his stance more convincing and more

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

In his speech at the Virginia convention, Patrick Henry argues that the colonists should stand up for their freedom from England using rhetorical devices such as allusion, imagery, diction, and rhetorical question. Basing his images on the theme of “freedom vs. slavery” rather than “peace vs. war” Patrick Henry engages his audience through their desire to protect freedom.

Through parallelism Patrick Henry creates rhythm to get to the loyalist. An example would be “ liberty or give me death.” Another example of parallelism in his speech is” with petitions we have remonstrated we have supplicated we have prostrated ourselves before the throne”. These examples creates a strong message that gets to the loyalist.

Henry daring, asks the convention “Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love .”This quote reaches the extent where the convention attendees may have reminisced on the love that the colonies were built on and if it was really necessary for the force to be used to get them to fight for what they started with. In this case, they knew love was what built the colonies. Therefore, Henry’s daring attempt to the convention’s feelings through rhetorical questions will essentially be a major key to the decision the legislation makes. This can also be noted when he asks “Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable, but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication.” Again, this question is going to try the feelings of those at the convention. In Henry saying this, he is trying to get the attendees worked up and angry in order for them to give in by saying that every attempt they have made in the last ten years have been in vain and there have been no solutions to their restrictions with Britain. This method also

Throughout the document the rhetorical device that is used frequently is antithesis, a contrast or opposition between two things. Henry’s purpose of his speech to the Virginia Convention was to stand up in what he believed in to fight for his citizens’ freedom and establish a free nation. Henry uses antithesis when he says his most known phrase, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”(Henry) because he is comparing liberty and death to make it stand out to the audience to let them know that what he is trying to say is that he’d rather die than live a life where he is not free. As this speech was delivered in the year 1775 and notice that in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was written, this document was a success to trigger a revolt against Great Britain in getting their

Patrick Henry was a man known as “the Orator of Liberty” who made himself known with his speeches about American democracy, one of them being the “Speech in the Virginia Convention”. In the “Speech in the Virginia Convention” Patrick Henry uses rhetorical question and metaphor in order to inspire the colonies to go to war with Great Britain.

1. Patrick Henry’s purpose in his speech to the Convention of Delegates in Virginia was to convince the people to take action against the British government. This excerpt is an effective conclusion to that speech. Throughout the speech, Henry appeals to both reason and emotion. He argues that the choice before the people of the Colonies is between freedom and slavery, and he claims that sharing his opinions is in the service of God and country. These final sentences bring Henry’s reasoning and his appeal to its logical end. In them, Henry uses rhetorical questions and an appeal to pathos. The effect is to leave the reader/listener feeling that Henry’s conclusion is the only one for a person of patriotic and sound mind.

Patrick Henry uses rhetorical devices in his speech to catch the attention of his audience of the Virginia Convention. First of all, he uses allusion. He references a famous line from the Odyssey by saying, “...and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts” (Henry 98). This line shows how negative the consequences of hope are. This is an allusion because he is using a quote from a famous book. He uses another reference to the Bible when he says, “...who having eyes to ee, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not” (Henry 101). This shows how hope is blinding the colonists. This is an allusion because he referenced the Bible, a well known book. When referencing God he says, “Sir, we are not weak, if we make

Throughout the 1700’s there was an array of enlightenment thinkers and many of the spoke at the virginia convention and they discussed the idea of whether or not to go to war with Britain. One of the speeches made that day was “Patrick Henry's speech in the Virginia Convention”. In order to convince the delegates to secede from Britain and to fight back against then Henry employs cause and effect, intellectual diction, as well as powerful metaphors to substantiate his argument.