Rhetorical Devices In Bohemian Rhapsody

Andrew Godinez
Mr. Jason Higgins
ENGL 1113-054
27 October 2014
“Bohemian Rhapsody” In exactly 4 days, 29 years ago, the greatest song of all time was reveled. The king of rock, Queen, let their new single hit the stores. It was titled Bohemian Rhapsody, and it soon reigned supreme. It was the biggest song for about nine weeks, and became England’s third best selling song to this day. Freddie Mercury is the lead singer of Queen and wrote most of their greatest hits including Bohemian Rhapsody. Freddie Mercury died in 1991 which brought more popularity to the band. Whenever someone mentions Queen, the song Bohemian Rhapsody will always come to mind. Bohemian Rhapsody is a story of a child’s guilt about killing another man, and how he can move
forward in his life, all happening in his head. The song is very unique in many ways; the most evident is that the song does not follow the typical song structure. It has no chorus, but instead has three quite lengthy different overall stanzas. It begins with a piano playing very softly, and the boy confronting his mother about the horrible crime he has done. Then, the song ventures into a sort of opera setting, and describe the boy’s insanity as he becomes face to face with the repercussions of the murder. In the end of the song, it turns into a regular rock song while the boy accepts what he has done and the consequences that he must face in order to move past his mistakes. This song, Bohemian Rhapsody was written in order to entertain and inform people about relationships, and it did this through all sorts of rhetorical strategies and devices. Beginning with the first stanza, there are many uses of rhetorical devices.
The song starts out with a strang questioning of reality: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality, Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see”. They first two lines are rhetorical questions. They help establish the state of mind needed in order to continue with the song. The third line is a metaphor. It means everything is crashing down on him, and he cannot escape it. It seems to conclude that he is caught between a dream and awakening. The next couple set of lines are being used as transitions into the main part of stanza one, “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I’m easy come, easy go, Little high, little low, Any way the wind blows, Doesn’t really matter to me, to me”. In the third and fourth line repetition is used in order to keep the lyrics flowing. The boy thinks his life doesn’t matter to anyone, his life is meaningless and the Earth does not care what happens to him. He does not care what happens next, he just wants it over; “any way the wind blows” him, he will go and it “doesn’t really matter” to him anymore. The next three lines show intent to kill by the boy, “Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”. The boy has finally come to terms of what he has
done.
Afterward, the next couple of lines are used in order to show that the boy recognized that he had just “thrown” away his future, ““Mama, life has just begun, But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away”. The next few lines establish the final words to his mother, a final farewell, “Mama, ooh, Didn’t mean to make you cry, If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters”. The next six lines have one metaphor such as, “face the truth”. But they also establish the fact that the boy has accepted his fate and is going to take full responsibility for his actions. The six lines are as follows: “Too late, my time has come, Sends shivers down my spine, Body’s aching all the time, Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go, Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth”. The first line of these six includes the phrase “My time has come” which is a euphemism. Finally the last three lines of the first stanza, “Mama, oooooooh,I don’t want to die, Sometimes wish I’d never been born at all”, setup the transition to the second stanza and begin the boy’s descent into insanity. Undoubtedly the most unique stanza in the song, the operatic portion is rich in rhetorical devices such as allusion and other rhetoric’s. It begins with two lines that infer the boy is a coward, “I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango?” A Scaramouch is a “type of clown that is seen to be boastful coward (Dictionary.com)”. A Fandango is a Spanish dance, and it further parallels the clown. The next line, “Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me”, is there in order to paint a picture of terror the boy is facing. The next two lines are very good allusions, “(Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro, Magnifico-o-o-o-o”. Figaro means “someone who handles situations very well under extreme pressure (Dictionary.com)”. So there is a reference as the boy is handling his situation very well. However, the second line is complimenting the boy and presents the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder situation. This is the most common example of inner conflict. The next two lines are between the “angel” and the boy, “I’m just a poor boy nobody loves me, He’s just a poor boy from a poor family, Spare him his life from this monstrosity, Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?”. The “angel” is trying to keep him from giving up.
Meanwhile, The next several lines have allusions and quite a bit of repetition used to keep engaging the listener, “Bismillah!, No, we will not let you go, Let him go, Bismillah! We will not let you go, Let him go, Bismillah!, We will not let you go, Let me go (Will not let you go), Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never), Let me go, o, o, o, o, No, no, no, no, no, no, no”. This set of line confirms the idea of the angel and devil. Bismillah is an “Arabic noun, which translates into “in the name of God” (Dicitionary.com)”. In the middle the boy begins to speak up, and starts asking the devil to let him go. The final two lines of the second stanza suggest that the boy does not allow the devil to take him. The two lines are ““(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go, Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me!” Beelzebub is also known as Satan. Thus the final stanza is introduced and shows the young boy turn into a man.
Lastly, as the final stanza of the song becomes fast and full of rock, it also wraps the entire story together. It starts off with four lines, “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye, So you think you can love me and leave me to die, Oh, baby, can’t do this to me, baby, Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here”. The young boy is asking the devil some questions that seem to spit back on the devils face. Then the song dramatically slows down after a guitar solo, back to the same pace as the beginning. Then four more lines, “Nothing really matters, Anyone can see, Nothing really matters, Nothing really matters to me” These four lines imply that he has come to full realization of what he did and is now in complete inner peace. He now knows that nothing really matters because he has already faced his demon. The final line of the song states, “Any way the wind blows…”, he is ready to go wherever the wind takes him.\
In conclusion, this song is a masterpiece that has captured millions of fans and received a great deal of awards. Through the use of rhetorical devices and strategies all these rewards were made possible. In stanza one there was a large amount of devices such as rhetorical questions and metaphors. In stanza two there were many allusions and references that allowed the music to appeal more. In stanza three there are uses of rhetorical strategies that wrap the song up tightly. It will forever be a masterpiece and probably never be outdone!

Works Cited
""Bohemian Rhapsody" Lyrics." QUEEN LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.