Rhetorical Devices Used In Patrick Henry's Speech

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 and Thomas Paine created effective pieces of writing, however, the most effective piece, in my opinion, is Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. I believe Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death targets its audience more effectively because of the beliefs and wishes Henry had for America. He wanted equality and peace for everyone. The most famous and crucial line would simply be the last one of the entire speech, "Give me liberty or give me death!" To gain the liberty and freedom they deserve, they must come together and fight.

In his speech during the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry used a dynamic tone to express his ideas. He utilized the rhetorical technique of fallacy to persuade his audience into thinking that America’s independence was necessary for the good of the nation and its people. Henry takes advantage of fallacies such as the either or fallacy, fallacy of complex questions, appeal of consequence, and appeal to emotion to implement his ideas into the audience.

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.

Patrick Henry was better at persuading his audience because he used a convincing combination rhetorical questions and imagery. Patrick Henry's use of logical and emotional appeals to make his audience believe in his cause. His purpose for speaking and his ambitious ideas also helped make his speech stronger. Jonathan Edwards speech was good, but the fear that he instilled in his audience crippled them instead of pushing them to action, like Henry's speech did.

Patrick Henry was born in virginia in 1736. He was a lawyer and a politician who encouraged the separation from great britain, by delivering the “Speech to the virginia convention” on March 23 1775, 3 week before the actual war. He was a powerful speaker whose words helped sweep the colonist towards their Declaration of Independence. Rhetorical devices and rhetorical appeals are ways that the writer draws you into the reading. By using ethos pathos and logos, the author finds ways to entregue everyone in different ways.

On March 23rd, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his Speech to the Virginia Convention. This speech becomes one of the most famous speeches in American Oratory. His audience were white men, that owned slaves and land, were wealthy, and men that received advanced education, compared to most men at that time. Considering all of these factors, Henry uses kinds of logic and emotion that appealed to them. In the Convention, Following a discussion about negotiating with the British, Henry presents a counter argument, saying that the colonists should fight against the British. Patrick Henry uses a variety of literary devices in his speech to defend his point, and convince the audience about his argument. The most significant literary device used by Henry

Henry includes a passionate pathos appeal in his speech to fill the audience with much passion and emotion to make them want to join his fight. Towards the end of his writing, Henry states, “There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come!” (Henry 6). This piece of the speech uses a significant amount of emotionally charged language, as well as, emotionally charged punctuation. Through the immense amount of emotionally charged language and punctuation, these statements easily display a pathos appeal. Henry displays this information to ensure his audience knows that these unjust British actions are not going away. He also is including these statements, so that the audience knows that the British are preparing for war, and if the colonists do not prepare, then then Britain is simply going to crush them and going to make matters even worse. At the end of the speech, Henry mentions, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!” (Henry 7). These statements easily display many emotionally charged words, along with a few emotional punctuations that show the use of the pathos appeal. Henry mentions this in his

Bush’s speech, the speeches are different. The differences in the two speeches are because of the difference in how Bush and Henry argued their ideas, how they used allusions, and how pathos was incorporated into the speeches to elicit certain emotions. Deductive arguing in Bush’s speech and inductive arguing in Henry’s speech was used to deliver the speeches in two different ways. In Henry’s speech, he uses several allusions to persuade his audience to believe that Great Britain was dangerous and would betray America. Lastly, Bush and Henry both utilize pathos in their speeches. Bush uses pathos in a repetitive way to remind his audience of the recent past attacks on America by the Iraqi regime. However, Henry exercises pathos to induce fear into his audience and elicits values of

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

One of the persuasive strategies Patrick Henry uses frequently is imagery. In one example Patrick Henry employs imagery as he spoke of the British troops sent to America, ensuring colonists were following orders; “They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.” Henry gave a vivid and disturbing description of his perception of what the British troops were ordered to do to the colonists so that they could see a clear picture of how they are being forcefully controlled by Britain. Another time Patrick Henry utilized imagery by asking his listeners, “Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of

Patrick Henry utilized pathos throughout his speech for emotional appeal that creates fear and strong desire to fight back the British in an “I’m-warning-you” tone through admonishment.

Throughout history, historical events have been relived and experienced by many in the present day through various scriptures and texts. From shocking testimonies, and inspirational speeches to intriguing journal entries, and questionable declarations, literature has allowed society, no matter the time, to go back and learn about past events that helped define the present society. Through these pieces of literature and their literary devices, readers are able to immerse themselves into the past by exposing themselves to historical figures’ persuasions and intentions through their creations. One of these pieces of literature that demonstrates these qualities is Patrick Henry’s Address to the Virginia Convention written in 1775. In Patrick Henry’s speech, he uses literary devices, such as diction, tone and syntax, to help the readers understand and relate to the author’s purpose in calling the Virginia Convention to action for one of the most historical moments in United Stated history, the American Revolution. The author uses these literary devices to persuade and encourage rebellious behavior in the audience, by creating a unifying, inspirational and rebellious tone to get them to support America’s impending fight for freedom, liberty and independence from British oppression.

Notably, Patrick Henry was a patriotic man, therefore he wrote with a passion to convince his fellow colonists that revolution was necessary. He did this specifically through charged words, parallelisms, and rhetorical questions in his speech known as “Speech to the Virginia Convention.” This speech predominately appealed to the audience through his use of pathos or emotional appeal. Patrick Henry’s uses of rhetorical questions arose from his strong belief of England’s inhuman treatment of the colonists. Rhetorical questions used by Patrick Henry draw out emotion, and force the answer that life under British control is equivalent to being enslaved: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” (Henry). Henry uses charged words to add momentum to his point, and