A Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Oprah Winfrey

Rhetorical analysis In today’s society “failure” is dreaded by most people. In 2013 Oprah Winfrey deliver “The Harvard Commencement Speech” and in 2008 she spoke “The Stanford Commencement Speech,” which both spoke about overcoming failure. Throughout these speeches, the audience learns that failure is something everyone will experience. Winfrey teaches readers that failure may hurt, but failure helps everyone learn from their mistakes and allows them to become a better person. Winfrey tells readers about a time when she failed and instead of feeling sorry for herself, she allowed herself to exceed expectations and change her failure into something spectacular. Oprah Winfrey is an effective speaker because she uses rhetorical devices and

Metaphors make speeches more personal, more memorable and more persuasive, they create a sense of familiarity, trigger emotions, and motivate the audience. They also provide a new perspective and a new meaning that can influence the audience to reconsidered their beliefs on a certain topic. In “The Harvard Commencement Speech” Winfrey says “Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” She uses a metaphor to motivate the audience and try to make them have a new outlook on failure. She's tells her audience that failure just life telling everyone to make a different decision. Winfrey encourages the students by explaining that failure may be difficult to overcome, but it's a part of life. Metaphors are also used to create a connection of the idea to an object that the audience already knows. In “The Stanford Commencement Speech” to creates a sense of familiarity by saying “what I know now is that feelings are really your internal GPS system for life.” A GPS system is mundane, her audience is familiar with a GPS, which allows a connection between failure or feelings with a GPS. When Winfrey uses the metaphor she makes it easier for her audience to understand and remember her message. Metaphors are effective in speeches because they produce interest in the audience, draw attention to certain ideas, and advancing the flow of