Rhetorical

Samuel Mendoza
Period 2
March 9th 2012
RHETORICAL DEVICES ESSAY A speech is an oral presentation on an important issue. A speech consists of three important elements: its purpose, the reason for its presentation; its occasion, the event that inspires it; and it’s the audience, those who hear it at the time or who read or hear it later. Orators get their audiences attention and emotions into the topic by using rhetorical devices. Rhetorical devices are special patterns of language used to make ideas memorable and stir up emotions. Both Churchill and Gandhi used the four types of rhetorical devices: repetition, parallelism, allusion and dramatic alternatives, to grasp their audience’s attention. Repetition is the repeating of any key words and concepts. In “Defending Nonviolence,” Gandhi uses repetition by saying, “I wanted to avoid violence, I want to avoid violence.” He repeats violence several times to get his point across on his views. In “Wartime Speech,” Churchill repeats his concept of staying, “united”, as one nation to overcome the oppressing German Army. He reiterates this to get the citizens of England to stay strong and to work together to defeat the threat against them. Parallelism is similar ideas expressed in similar grammatical forms. Churchill’s “Wartime Speech” uses parallelism to show the similarity in the situation. “Only a very small part of that splendid army has yet been heavily engaged; and a very small part of France has yet been invaded.” Gandhi is paralleling man against man, that each man should be equal in all things. “A man of responsibility, a man having received a fair share of education, having had a fair share of experience of this world.” Allusions are references to well-known people, places and events. In “Wartime Speech,” Churchill says, “I have received from the Chiefs of the French Republic, and in particular from its indomitable Prime Minister M. Reynaud, the most sacred pledges that whatever happens they will fight to the end, be it bitter or be it glorious.” He says this to encourage the people and to show them that even leaders are willing to make sacrifices. Gandhi’s “Defending Nonviolence,” points out his relationship with the Kaiser of South Africa to give him support, “For my work in South Africa, I was given by Lord Hardinge, a Kaiser-i-Hind, Gold Medal.” Rhetorical devices grab and tug at audience’s attention and emotions; Orators and writers use them to hold onto a reader or listener. Using rhetorical devices makes ideas memorable and help stir up emotions within an audience.