Rhetoric Paper

Treacherous Right! “Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry once shouted these words with a passion that fueled a nation into revolution. Burning with intensity in the very depths of his soul for the singular belief that a man should be, free. One hundred and eighty eight years later, the stand continued in a different form. “I have a dream,”, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!” Martin Luther King Jr. Stood before millions with these sayings and confronted the oppressors of his generation, just as Patrick Henry rose up one hundred and eighty eight years ago. Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King Jr. are rebels who stood against tyranny with not armies, but through words. Using the rhetorical devices; pathos, metaphors, and repetition, these two heroes of the word proved that the pen is truly mightier than the sword. Even though they influenced the world to change with their speeches, they could not accomplish this task without using certain devices. For example neither person’s speeches would have been as effective without the use of pathos. Patrick Henry used pathos to reach into the passion in each member in attendance of the convention. Using phrases such as, “Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.” In a room with the right tone, and the right conviction laid out onto the words of the speaker, one can move any number of people to agree with them. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the whole world on television. More than two hundred and fifty thousand people were in attendance. Dr. King Took his stand there and addressed the nation with what concerned their hearts. He would discuss slavery, freedom, prosperity, and everything that African Americans might accomplish, were it not for the institution of discrimination. Pathos was an incredibly powerful apparatus used in both of the orators’ addresses. Without it they