Patrick Henry’s speech is more effective than Thomas Paine’s speech because of his use of rhetorical devices. In Patrick Henry’s “The Speech at the Virginia Convention” he uses rhetorical questions and exclamations very well. In Thomas Paine’s “The Crisis” he is a bit too moderate in his speech to portray his point of view. “The Crisis” is very similar to “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” in a way that they are both trying to persuade Americans to fight for their independence. Patrick Henry gave “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” and Thomas Paine gave “The Crisis.” One similarity was that Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry were both patriots who would give their lives for their country. Thomas Paine says, “Tis the business of little …show more content…
When Patrick Henry said, “We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!” He uses many exclamations in his speech to come across to his audience’s emotions. In the contrer Thomas Paine comes across to his audience in a lower more relaxed way. He says, “None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in.” They are both stating that they must fight, but Thomas Paine states it in a less aggressive way. Patrick Henry states it in a way of exclamation to get his audience’s attention and emotion. When Thomas is speaking to his audience he is using a less aggressive tone so no one can be offended by his speech. I believe Patrick Henry was there to speak his mind, and he was there to persuade the audience to fight with him. Another difference between these speeches was that Patrick Henry’s speech was written before the war, and Thomas Paine’s speech was written during the war. You can see when Patrick Henry says, “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?” He is clearly stating this before the war telling them they need to fight …show more content…
Patrick Henry made his audience want to go out and fight for their independence. Thomas Paine tried to not make anyone offended with his speech. He does not get as involved with the audience’s emotions as Patrick did. Patrick Henry gets on a personal level with his audience’s emotions. Thomas Paine’s speech was just a bit too relaxed, and it did not have enough emotion in it. Patrick Henry’s speech was also much easier to comprehend than Thomas Paine’s. Most of the time in “The Crisis” it was hard to understand where Thomas was going. He was calm in his speech. Patrick was very erodic with his sppech in a way that it was his, and it was everything he was feeling on the inside of his heart. With Patrick Henry’s superb use of rhetorical devices it became clear what he was trying to message the audience. A great use of rhetorical devices was when Patrick Henry said, “The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!” Patrick is using exclamations in this way to show his audience his beliefs. Also, when he said, “Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?” Patrick Henry is using rhetorical questions that helps the audience get into the
Thomas Paine makes a statement and compares the king to a thief that stole their land. Paine states, “but if a thief breaks into my house, threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?”(Paine). Trying to persuade people to join the fight, Paine is asking the colonists why they are subjecting their selves to the tyranny of the king; furthermore, Paine is explaining that the colonists have no choice, but to fight or they will forever be under the tyranny of the king. Patrick Henry makes a statement about the petition in his speech that says, “Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?”(Henry). With his rhetorical question, Patrick Henry is trying to show the colonists that the king did not care for their petition and would not settle for anything. Therefore, Henry would then go on to state why they should declare war on Britain and gain their
In the Patrick Henry’s speech at the Virginia Convention Patrick Henry tries to persuade the colonist to fight a war against the English, he does this through several main rhetorical strategies, imagery, emotional appeal, and allusion. Patrick Henry uses imagery to get the listeners attention, as he relates the to the dumb sailors who would get killed by the sirons cause they would be caught in their beauty and singing. Patrick Henry uses emotional appeal to get the listeners on his side, by bringing up slavery because if they do not fight back they can become slaves. Patrick henry uses allusion so he can get the listeners to fight back, he butters them up and gives them a couple reasons on why they should not fight back but then hit them with the news saying that they have to fight back. Patrick Henrys speech was good because he used Imagery, Emotional appeal, and allusion and that really grabbed the listeners attention and made them go to war.
We must fight against the dreadful British. Patrick Henry wrote the “Speech in the Virginia Convention” to urge the colonists to fight for independence from Great Britain. Henry shows a great amount of strength and patriotism in his speech. This, along with other strategies, aids him in persuading the colonists. Patrick Henry’s influential, “Speech in the Virginia Convention” rightfully uses aristotelian appeals and rhetorical strategies to persuade the colonists to declare war against the British.
The common purpose between Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Convention and Thomas Paine’s The Crisis No. 1 was to persuade listeners into fighting for independence from Britain. They used different methods and tactics to do so. A great method is to appeal to the heart and head; emotionally and logically. People listening to the speech need reasons as to why they should follow what the speaker is saying. One can’t just speak with force and no substance and expect to have people agree with them. “You can catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” Fear is a big motivator but it doesn’t nearly do as well as respect. There are many ways to persuade people but the most effective
America Should Separate from the King Writers of the revolutionary period effectively persuaded colonists in the Americas to separate from the king by using techniques such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and parallelism to make the colonists realize the importance in fighting in the war, along with sparking a fear in them. Revolutionary writers such as Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine use these rhetorical devices to try and persuade the colonists to fight on the side of America during this war. In “These are the times that try men’s souls”, Thomas Paine displays pathos, rhetorical questions, and Parnellism throughout his writing to convince colonists why they should fight and how the British are not America’s friends. Patrick Henry on the other hand, in “Speech to the Virginia Convention” uses the same
Patrick Henry’s speech is to persuade the audience to go to war with Great Britain. He does this flawlessly by using the following rhetorical strategies: imagery, repetition, and emotion including other rhetorical strategies, such as rhetorical
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
First, Patrick Henry, author of “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, uses allusions and rhetorical questions to convince his
During the Revolutionary War, writers and orators publicly revealed their thoughts on how to respond to Britain’s further subjugation of the American colonies. After a futile hope for reconciliation and failed petitions to the British government, several patriots, such as Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry, called for the colonists to take up arms against the British. Through Paine’s Common Sense and Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, they displayed an adamant message for the colonies to fight immediately. Both used the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, and logos within their respective works, and their various applications to the three elements allowed for their arguments to reach all ears and influence the majority of the population towards the fight for independence.
From the Crisis No.1 written by Thomas Paine and the Speech at the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry were two major sources during the time of the Revolutionary War. Both speeches were persuasive and moving for the colonist. The common purpose of the revolutionary speeches during that time was to persuade the common people to become fully independent from tyranny. Even though the common purpose for both speeches was to separate from Great Britain, they both used different methods or strategies in their speeches like the tone, and how they appealed to the situation.
During the American Revolution, there were many politicians who helped the cause towards rebellion. Patrick Henry was one of these statesmen. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1765. Shortly after being elected, Henry delivered a speech that spoke against the Stamp Act. But, his most famous speech was the “Speech in the Virginia Convention” in 1775. This speech flamed the Revolutionary spirit and led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. How did Henry achieve such a positive response to his speech? He accomplished this by developing ethos, pathos, utilizing repetition, and choosing an urgent tone.
The 1770s proved to be a time of much chaos and debate. The thirteen colonies, which soon gained their independence, were in the midst of a conflict with Great Britain. The colonies were suffering from repeated injuries and usurpations inflicted upon them by the British. As a result of these inflictions, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry addressed these injustices, and proved to be very persuasive through providing reasoning and evidence that moved many colonists to believe that to reach contentment and peace the colonies had to rid themselves of British rule. Henry and Paine were successful in swaying their audience, not only because of the rhetorical strategies used, but also because they were passionate about the cause they were committed
On April 19, 1775, a gunshot was fired that changed the course of history. It started the revolutionary war. Before this day, though, many people risked everything for the cause of freedom and the idea of war. One of these people was Patrick Henry. A lawyer from Virginia, his persuasive voice in the delegates helped to fuel the revolution and the need for independence and helped us understand what we were fighting for. He helped show the public the inevitable war and independence. Patrick Henry helped fuel the revolution as an orator and important influential figure who was willing to give up personal values to support a cause that only half the public believed in, and he left his mark from helping fight to becoming the governor of Virginia
Patrick Henry, one of the most persuasive figures in Virginia politics, delivered a riveting speech against the Stamp Act in 1765. Ten years later, when the Colonies decided they had enough of England, he delivered one of his most famous speeches, “liberty or death.” Using logic and emotion, Henry attempted to persuade his audience to initiate war. His audience, the conservative Colonists of the 1700s, believed him to be the most prestigious speaker of that time. Patrick Henry effectively used rhetorical devices, such as rhetorical questioning, references to God, and metaphors in order to secure the chances of the Colonists going to war with England.