Sir William Wallace was a Scottish property-owner who come to be one of the central leaders throughout the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace overpowered an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297, and was granted Protector of Scotland, serving till his death at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. Mel Gibson plays’ William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish soldier that led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. This speech uses a variety of different techniques and methods to motivate his viewers into accepting and believing that freedom is precious. Freedom in the 13th century was cherished greatly as it’s “the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved”.
The power of this speech integrates from a mixture of his movement upon his horse. Instead of just standing in one spot, speaking to the power before him, he trotted forward and back, speaking to each and every one of the army. He rode up and down the front lines to act as though he was more personally speaking to those before him. This ...
William Wallace is considered a legend in Scotland. For years, England and Scotland were at war, and behind many of the battles for Scotland’s independence was William Wallace. While the information about him, like any good hero, might be over exaggerated by some historians, what’s true is that he gave the country hope that Scotland could be free from English Tyranny. For years after he died, others took his place in saving Scotland from English rule.
In the 1861 speech by Wendell Phillips, he describes the Haitian general Toussaint Louverture, as a hero and a martyr. Phillips is giving the speech to a group of Abolotionists who very clearly support Phillips and Louverture. In his speech, he uses rhetorical devices such as the repitition of historical allusions and parallel sentence structure to emphasize his thoughts on Louverture.
The book is derived from the archives of both Britain and America and delivers a powerful drama with narrative robustness. It is generally a story of Americans from all walks of life working towards the same goal of independence. It is a story of the ...
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech are different forms of text, however both serve the common purpose of entertaining and inspiring their contextual audience. Particularly in Roosevelt’s speech, he needed to be an inspiring, rock solid leader as a majority of American’s believed in isolationism and the belief that the United States should continue to stay out of war. However, through the “Four Freedoms”, Roosevelt dictated such convincingl...
In Eric Foner’s book, The Story of American Freedom, he writes a historical monograph about how liberty came to be. In the book, his argument does not focus on one fixed definition of freedom like others are tempted to do. Unlike others, Foner describes liberty as an ever changing entity; its definition is fluid and does not change in a linear progress. While others portray liberty as a pre-determined concept and gradually getting better, Foner argues the very history of liberty is constantly reshaping the definition of liberty, itself. Essentially, the multiple and conflicting views on liberty has always been a “terrain of conflict” and has changed in time (Foner xv).
“But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. That and nothing else.”
During his speech he was ignored and laughed at after working so hard and battling to be heard, but once he spoke of equality someone from the crowd became upset. “You sure that about ‘equality’ was a mistake?” (1220). Some are born with access and advantages, but some have to go through hurdles to get what they want. “I spoke automatically and with such fervor that did not realize that the men were still talking and laughing until my dry mouth, filling up with blood from the cut, almost strangled me.” (1219). This places a challenge on the white men in the area that an intelligent black boy who they thought nothing of yet still considered him voiceless and moronic. This chapter alone worked off of a single scene of how the narrator was indeed an invisible man in his youth, not knowing which way to turn, but remembering the words his grandfather said from his deathbed carrying on throughout his years. “Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days…” (1211). Neither the culture nor the crowd wanted to accept what was given, doing anything to repress someone from attempting to reach a goal. It is a way to discourage one due to others feeling you aren’t good enough or have the will and drive. The theory applied may help readers see something that we would not see unless we
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2014. Book.
In the passage of the Narrative by Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition through the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom, along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversity.
In David Foster Wallace’s graduation speech, This Is Water, he uses logical and emotional appeals to discuss the importance of critical thinking. Wallace uses the term “conscious” to signal critical thinkers, while those who do not think critically are referred to as “unconscious.” Wallace’s main argument is that a person has the choice to think critically and should do so every day. Wallace’s analysis of consciousness and unconsciousness focusses too heavily on the logical and emotional appeals and ignores the possible ethical arguments that support the development of conscious societies, such as activism. In doing so, Wallace favours the self-interested members of the audience and alienates those who favour altruism, limiting the scope of his argument.
Foner, Eric. "Chapter 9." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Brief Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Everyone has heard the speech from Braveheart, where Mel Gibson pours his heart out in front of his army to get them ready to overcome the tremendous odds of taking down the English army. Gibson’s most famous line is “tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!”(Source). This quote is similar to John Proctor’s soliloquy at the end of Act IV in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, where he talks about his fatal flaw of Hubris, or pride, because he does not want his name to be marked on the church as being a witch.. This flaw of pride was also his saving grace with his wife.
The historian uses this line to interpret how it felt to be oppressed during times of freedom from those who personally found themselves not having natural rights.
The Special Olympics date back all the way to the year 1968. Many see these Games as a time to honor someone who is able to “overcome” a task, but author William Peace sees this as an insulting portrayal of people with disabilities. Peace is a multidisciplinary school teacher and scholar that uses a wheel chair and writes about the science behind disabilities and handicaps. As a physically handicapped individual, Peace is able to observe a negative portrayal of disabled persons. In his article titled, “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports,” William Peace offers his own personal insight, utilizes several statistics regarding handicaps, as well as numerous rhetorical appeals in order to communicate to the “common man”
Nothing in life is guaranteed, but the one thing that humans demand is freedom. Throughout history, there are countless cases where groups of people fought for their freedom. They fought their battles in strongly heated debates, protests, and at its worst, war. Under the assumption that the oppressors live in complete power, the oppressed continuously try to escape from their oppressors in order to claim what is rightfully theirs: the freedom of choice. In Emily Dickinson’s poems #280, #435, and #732 and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, freedom is represented by an individual’s ability to make their own decisions without the guidance, consultation, or outside opinion of others in order to find their true sense of self. Once an individual is physically and spiritually free, they can find their true sense of self.