Patrick Henery Essay

Patrick Henry’s Speech: Conquering Rhetorically

“Darting passed our hallowed ears, were the thunderous cries of agreement and declaration. This sporadic, yet centered uproar was promoted by the firm, animated, vibrant words of Patrick Henry. Abrasive I was, unparalleled to the experience of being outside for a change-looked down upon because of my gender; His message made me feel otherwise.” (Debra Wilson, 1775) In his speech, Henry aims to convince the colonist that the opposing forces must, “Give me Liberty, or give me death” compacted with dexterous rhetorical techniques such as imagery, anaphora, repetition, and pathos to assemble a believable, undoubted, well-founded speech.
Henry begins his speech assertively with “No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as the abilities of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; …I should speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve.” Immediately, Henry implements Pathos. Henry is aware that in order for a group of irritated colonist to believe him, he must first present himself as honorable. Henry beckons the audience more with, “Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, …the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.” Personality, seasoned with the refusal to wither the truth-despite others opinions- and enveloped in religious assertiveness, allows for the acceptance of ideas intertwined with the openness to change.
About midway, Henry declares, "We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves..." Henry articulates the rhetorical device known as “Anaphora”. Anaphora is used when an author wants to blatantly enforce a specific message to his audience. Henry needed to make the colonist aware of how fatigued they were of their current oppression combined with the necessity to fight back. Hence, anaphora proved to be especially tactful in the purpose of his speech. Henry follows this statement up with, “Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne” Tagged with the above mentioned rhetorical device, Henry incorporates immense repetition making sure to integrate pronouns such as “our” to further demonstrate his believe in unification.
More important than the functions of the techniques themselves, it is how Henry uses them together. For instance, had Henry bluntly stated, “We are weak, and will remain that way unless we fight.”, without preceding without a well-produced, strategized, grounded piece of Rhetorical art, the colonist would have been unimpressed, uninterested and ill-mannered towards Henry’s speech. That approach would have certainly barred the speech from being persuasive. The calculated use of these Rhetorical devices made Henry’s ideas more prominent and nearly guaranteed it being received in its entirety.