Rhetorical Devices Used in Queen Elizabeth's Speech

Through her speech, Queen Elizabeth inspired her people to fight for the country of England against the Spaniards. Queen Elizabeth persuaded the English troops to defend their country with rhetoric devices such as diction, imagery, and sentence structure to raise their morale and gain loyalty as a woman in power.

Queen Elizabeth skillfully used diction throughout her speech to motivate the troops. In the speech, Queen Elizabeth used the word “we” four times to underscore her feeling of unity between her and her country. She conveyed her care about the welfare of everyone in the country. This inspired the soldiers to remain patriotic and want to fight for their nation. In addition, the queen refered to the soldiers as “noble” and “worthy”, praising them with positive words. She intended to make the soldiers see that the task was significant, making them feel that they were important and want to protect the kingdom of Spain. Later in the sentence, Queen Elizabeth used the phrase “enemies of my God” in the conclusion of her speech. She used a powerful word to connect with the troops by juxtaposing her and their anger toward Spain, emboldening them to challenge the expected invaders. Queen Elizabeth’s impacting usage of diction gave the soldiers the will to fight, fulfilling the purpose of the speech.

Queen Elizabeth masterfully used imagery in her speech to boost the soldier’s morale and gain loyalty and respect as a woman leader. In the beginning of the speech, Queen Elizabeth said, “Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects”. The queen’s intent was to paint her as a trusting and respectful leader an...

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...ed rewards and crowns; and we do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you.” In the first half of the sentence, the queen acknowledged that the soldiers deserve to have rewards for going into the war. She answered in the second half that she they were to be paid duly and justly for their work. This sentence gave the troops an incentive for serving their country against Spain, motivating them to fight. Queen Elizabeth’s exemplary usage of sentence structure helped her to gain trust as a leader from men and influenced the soldiers to go to war for their country.

Using the rhetoric devices of diction, imagery, and sentence structure, Queen Elizabeth gave a successful speech to the soldiers who stood before her at Tilbury. With her words, the troops were motivated and inspired to display their patriotism by fighting the incoming Spaniards.