What Are The Rhetorical Devices In Patrick Henry's Speech

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A great deal of the power behind Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” and Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” speech lies in a sharp understanding of the power of rhetorical devices they used to persuade their audience in which enhanced their speeches to become so successful. Both rhetoricians took their audience to a whole other level and where expressing the living reality. Henry, rallying up congressmen who attended the Virginia convention was taking them the rich men literally out of their chairs, who were in shock to the unveiled truth in what was really going on between them and the British. Though King, addressed to citizens who attended his speech agonizing while tearing open his non-supporters hearts, that life can’t …show more content…

Now why did Henry do this exactly? The reason why Henry used rhetorical questions is because he is expecting his wealthy crowd to know the answer to these solvable questions. To that, Henry asked his gilded congressmen “And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument?... Have we anything new to offer on the subject?”(Henry 5) Henry knows that his audience are gullible to this, they know if they are to argue they will just repeat what they've tried to do for the past ten years in which has brought them nowhere and they the congressmen have nothing more to offer, which is very ironic because they are very wealthy indeed. To extend Henry uses these rhetorical questions as a way to persuade the congressmen into rethinking their opinions because Henry sure is making his point yet again justifiable to theirs. Although Henry is the king for using so many rhetorical questions, he is still not the only one that made his inquisitions persuade his Audience. King as well put up his own fight with using his slick smooth rhetorical questions. As Henry questioned his audience to review their opinions into making them believe his was more defendable than theirs, King as well did the same. With that King commenced by asking his prosecutors mostly “When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of brutality.”(King, 9) Although King isn't just questioning his foes but he is also answering them by saying that they will never be satisfied as long as this brutality continues to happen between the Negroes. Moreover by King answering this simple rhetorical question King is opening a gate between his defendants old opinion and into their new and sympathetic judgment. King then touches his audience or amassed opponents by using this pitiful and real inquiry to the point

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