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Winston Churchill Versus Henry V

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Winston Churchill Versus Henry V
English 12H
September 14, 2006
Thea De Leon
Winston Churchill versus Henry V

Henry V was the King of England, who waged war in order to take control of France; where as Winston Churchill was the prime minister of the UK during the
Nazi raid in Europe of World War II. Both were very effective with persuasion in the form of language as most apparent in their speeches: Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat and Henry 's speech in Act III. Henry 's battle of Harfleur speech shared many similarities to Churchill 's first speech as a prime minister in respects to their rhetoric – their purpose, tone, and resulting mood were all very successful in instilling a sense of pride and duty to one 's country, for the cause of victory

Henry and Churchill had only one purpose in mind – victory. Henry was very intent upon gaining control of France, and spewed out very passionate and dramatic imagery illustrating the goal at hand. This is evident in the very first lines of his speech; -
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!" (Lines 1-5)
He keeps the English informed that victory was well in reach, and rallies his soldiers by calling attention to their ancestors who triumphed in war. He appeals to all commoners, soldiers, and upperclassmen equally uniting them as a whole and installing a sense of pride and duty to fight for England. He also arouses their violent instincts by asking them to transform into wild animals – tigers. The basic message Henry was trying to get across was to transform oneself into a fierce instrument to fight the French, give it your all in order to attain glory for the country, for the rewards of conquest are much more endearing than any other prize. He says this message through motivation and warlike emotions; Henry makes his subjects believe that they will be victorious with little or no casualties. His tone and resulting mood was prideful and passionate. It seemed as if Henry really



Bibliography: Winston Churchill Audio File; "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" September 14, 2006:

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