Rhetorical Analysis Of Patrick Henry's Speech

During 1775, the American Colonies disputed among themselves at the Virginia Convention on whether a war should be declared against Britain. At one of the meetings, Patrick Henry, an attorney and politician, gave a speech explaining his position on why the colonies should go to war. In his speech, Henry successfully applied the rhetorical strategies of metaphor, imagery, and repetition to convey his argument that a war against Britain was the only right course of action. At the Virginia Convention, Henry implemented various rhetorical strategies to convince the colonies to declare war on Britain. He stated that it was natural for the colonies to “indulge in the illusions of hope.” Instead of belittling and mocking his audience for hoping to
avoid war, Henry presented himself as a giver of unpleasant news. Therefore, he caused the people to trust him because he did not look down on them. In addition, by portraying himself as a teacher rather than a jeerer, Henry made the audience listen to his explanation without feeling ridiculed. Henry also warned the people that shutting their “eyes against [the] painful truth” of subjugation under the British was like listening to “the song of [a] siren" as death approached. This metaphor continued the idea that the British were luring the colonies with false hope of resolution while taking advantage of them. Henry implemented this comparison because the siren was a well-known mythical monster that lured its prey with the promise of joy and happiness, but gave death instead. Furthermore, by inserting the imagery of the British as monsters into the people’s mind, Henry caused them to be extremely wary of allowing the British military onto their land. Because of his imagery and metaphor, Henry’s argument that the painful truth was better than false hopes resonated well with the colonists. After arguing that the colonists needed to face the truth, Henry invalidated the opposing argument and urged the colonies to fight together for their freedom.
He repeated the phrase “we have” to invalidate the idea that the colonies needed to remain respectful toward Britain and to arrange a treaty. By listing all the actions that the colonies had undertaken using “we have,” Henry projected the idea that the inevitable war was not the colonists’ fault and that they had taken every action possible to avoid a fight with Britain. Moreover, he placed the blame on the British for ignoring their supplication for negotiations and insulting the colonies with contempt. Henry also repeated the words “we” and “ourselves” many times as he convinced the colonies to come together for a war against Britain. He used these repetitions to emphasize that he wanted what was best for the colonies, not only for himself. Additionally, he tried to promote the idea of unity and patriotism within the colonies, so that they could fight their common enemy, Britain. Therefore, Henry successfully used repetition to refute rebuttals on why the colonies should not go to war. All in all, Henry applied various rhetorical strategies to persuade the colonies to declare a war against Britain. He also discredited counter arguments from those who wanted peace with Britain. Thus, Patrick Henry implemented metaphors and repetition to delineate his argument on why the colonies should declare a war on
Britain.