There were many similarities and differences between speech styles of the early 1700's and the late 1700's. Speakers were known to use persuasive techniques in these time periods to influence their audience's opinions. Speakers were also using an oratory approach to their speeches. Two speakers of this time period were Jonathan Edwards and Patrick Henry. The persuasive techniques of these speakers were different due to their topics, their purpose, and their messages being conveyed, yet they were similar due to their authority, their strong sense of emotion, and their belief in their subjects.
Jonathan Edward's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," was an example of a persuasive speech in which Edwards used scare tactics to persuade his audience. Jonathan Edwards' purpose was simply to convey a message to the people of the church with intentions of changing their moral and religious views. Edwards often appealed to reason and logic and highly emotional "fire and brimstone" techniques to convey his point.
Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention" was a powerful argument for American Independence. This was an example of an oratory approach. Henry used political views to help in his persuasion. Unlike Jonathan Edwards, Henry did not use the approach of scare tactics, but rather the approach to reason and logic. Both of the renowned speakers used strong feelings in their persuasive speeches. They also used Biblical illusions to strengthen their points. The two speakers both had to gain the attention of the audience. The speakers also gained their attention through the fact that they held high social and political level positions.
In his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards he displays the Puritan belief that men are saved by grace. Edward, however, use rhetorical devices to make his sermon persuasive by using vibrant images and figure of speech to make these men repent.
Through the accompaniment of rhetorical devices and pathos, one can strengthen an argument to the point where others see no other option. When spoken at the right occasions and with enough of supporting evidence, an argument will intrigue the audience and make people find the argument logical and appealing. Patrick Henry made his speech less than a month before the Revolutionary War came to pass. Thomas Paine commenced a series of articles when the call for men to fight was urgent. When someone makes an argument, even the smallest detail counts.
Jonathan Edwards creates a more effective argument for the intended audience in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” than “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” written by Patrick Henry, by utilizing various techniques. Patrick Henry makes a strong argument however in the end, Edwards’ sermon grows to be more effective. Edwards creates the argument by strengthening the writing through tone, structure, fallacies and knowledge of the congregation that became his audience. Henry’s piece uses methods of oratory persuasion but the actual topic of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has an advantage from the start by appealing to fear, a fallacy of logic. Even with the strong basis “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry, Edwards’ “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” proves the more effective piece in the end.
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
Edwards applied masses of descriptive imagery in his sermon to persuade the Puritans back to their congregation. For example, he gave fear to the Puritans through this quote, “We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth, so it is easy for us to cut a singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by, thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell…” (pg. 153) In this quotation, he utilized vivid imagery because he wanted the Puritans to visibly imagine what he was saying through his sermon, on how angry God is with them, which made them convert back to Puritanism. Through the use of vivid imagery such as “crush a w...
There are few speeches in the American history that compel us towards great acts of patriotism. Patrick Henry's speech in the Virginia Provincial Convention of 1775 is a prime example of one of these great speeches. During the debates on whether or not to compromise with Great Britain, Patrick Henry proposed the idea to his fellow members of the First Continental Congress to declare war on Great Britain. A reason why the speech was so powerful was the rhetorical strategies of the diction of slavery, the appeal to God, and the appeal to logic, that he deftly employed.
And while describing the fiery wrath of the “Angry God,” Edwards states, “The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation.” By focusing on this group of people, Edwards instills a sense of fear within the audience of “sinners.” 3) Edwards purpose in delivering this sermon was to inform “sinners” of the inevitable doom that He thus creates a sense of helplessness in his audience, and encourages them to submit to God and renew their faith in Christianity. His use of parallelism allows Edwards to exponentially build a sense of fear, and it is maintained throughout this sermon.
Although both Mark Antony’s and Robert F. Kennedy’s speeches were successful largely due to the strength of their arguments, their careful choice and placement of their words and sentences is also an important factor in the delivery of their messages. The clever use of stylistic devices and techniques of both Antony and Kennedy’s speeches is a testimony to their much admired speaking styles. The use of repetition, caesuras, and personal references augment their speeches so that it is concise, purposeful, memorable and emotionally engaging. The influential nature of both Mark Antony and Robert F. Kennedy is in part due to their high level of skill in speech-making, a rewarding skill to have in any language, and an important asset required for any leader.
On July 8, 1741 Congregational minister, John Edwards, delivered a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” before a Massachusetts congregation in order to dismiss some of the colonist’s belief that hell is not real. Edwards’s objective is to abolish any doubts against god and hell that the colonists have. He uses strategies such as anaphora, figurative language, polysyndeton, all while instilling a feeling of angst in his audience through his tone.
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, who initially came up with the three different sections of rhetorical appeals and the act of persuasion. The three appeals include ethos, logos and pathos, all three different means of persuasion. Michael Moore’s, Capitalism: A Love Story will be used and examples will be taken from throughout the movie to analyze his rhetorical techniques when reaching out to the audience. Examples from “The Qualities of the Prince” by Niccoló Machiavelli will also be analyzed for the three appeals. Moore’s movie relates exactly to the rhetorical appeals because he is persuading the readers to realize all the corrupt and unjust happenings that are going on all around us without even knowing it. He is trying to explain to the readers that it is going on everywhere and steps to educate their selves to gain awareness in the corruption of America. His video shows many examples of the “behind the scenes” into the political world and cites all the events back to how and why it is ruining our country and what we can do to prevent and/or help the cause. Machiavelli’s piece also was a form of persuasion and rhetoric’s, using all three appeals as well. “The Qualities of the Prince” is a piece by Machiavelli in which he is trying to explain how a prince should act and what traits they should possess to be a successful leader. Machiavelli is using the rhetoric appeals and explaining his experiences through which he has learned what it takes to be a great prince.
When all is said and done, King’s speech is easily the most persuasive of the three. His use of rhetorical language is superb, his ethos is convincing, and his pathos is awe-inspiring. Even though all three are persuasive in some way, King’s was definitely the most difficult for someone to argue
There are many parts to a speech that make it powerful. The three main categories that can decide how good a speech is are logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos is a person's logic and reasoning behind their argument, ethos is the trust between the speaker and the crowd, and pathos is the emotion in a speech. All of these are important to helping a speech be as strong as possible and without them, a speech with a lot of potential can seem dull and unimportant. When comparing and contrasting speeches, these are some key components to look for. If we compared Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream”speech with Mark Antony’s speech in the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr's speech is more powerful because although they both had a firm belief that they deserved what they were protesting for, Martin Luther King Jr. had much more pathos, with emotional pauses and analogies.
In the “Speech at the Virginia Convention” Patrick Henry tries to persuade colonists to fight a war against the English; he uses several main rhetorical strategies such as; parallelism, metaphor, and rhetorical questions.
Speeches are similar in one aspect, they all bring their own personal message to the world in compelling ways Chief Joseph’s “On Surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, 1877” and Susan B. Anthony’s “On Women’s Right to Vote” are no exemptions. Though both are from a prolonged oppressed or minority group in their time such as the women’s suffrage for Anthony and Native American Relations with the United States for Chief Joseph. In addition they have a similar point of view against the US government and their relationship with it, but they differ in some specifics. Their concepts and utilities like rhetorical appeals are different to support best their own circumstances as Chief Joseph’s speech is announcing a surrender and thus uses mainly pathos
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.