Brave Heart: An effective speech Freedom is desired more than anything else by people all over the world. The idea that you and you alone control your life is one of the most revered in the modern world. Early fourteenth century Scotland was not a place where freedom was taken for granted. This is evident in Mel Gibson’s (as William Wallace) speech in Brave heart to convince the Scotts to fight before the battle of Stirling Bridge. This speech is exemplary in its use of rhetoric and Aristotle’s triangle. It is effective in its purpose to convince the Scotts to fight with passion for the freedom they hold so dear. Gibson begins the speech with some light-hearted humor sarcastically saying that if he was truly William Wallace that he would
You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do without freedom? ”. Wallace uses the word tyranny to describe the English that rule over the Scotts and are considered by many of them to be prejudiced and cruel. The Scotts then realize what exactly they are there to fight for, for their freedom and the freedom of all Scotts. The repetition of the word free plants the idea in the Scotts that they are a free people and should not be subjected to the rule of the English. This feeds into their reasoning as to why they fight with Wallace. It is at this point when one of the warriors utters “Fight? Against that? No, we will run; and we will live”. It illustrates the concern the Scotts have that if they fight they will die for nothing. Wallace immediately addresses this fear by responding “Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while”. It lets the warriors know the truth, they very well may die if they fight and will probably live if they decide to run, but it makes them wonder at what the cost will be. They will still die one day whether they fight or not but if they run they will metaphorically running from that regret the rest of their
...ow the audience to visualize the event and becomes more relatable. Listeners are able to emotionally identify with the situation and reflect in order to give other the benefit of the doubt. The speech could be improved with more facts or statistics. Wallace uses rhetorical devices to create his argument, which could be seen as ironic due to his death. He attempted to influence others but struggled with an everyday battle that he could not overcome. His approach to life is understood, but maintaining that approach proves to be difficult. Through the use of dramatization and figurative language, Wallace is able to appeal the audience and leave them with the idea that, “It is about simple awareness—awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: ‘This is water, this is water’”.
“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.”
Because Ernest J. Gaines primarily grew up on a plantation in southern Louisiana, Gaines learned folk ways and speech patterns that directly come from his culture. In order to capture the culture in his writing, he incorporates the bilingual of the Cajun-Creole speech to give greater authenticity to his writing. Additionally, Gaines’ selective use of dialect and his judicious rendering of the speech patterns enable him to maintain a simple, lucid style.
It takes little character to point a gun and pull a trigger, but it takes mountains of courage to accept a challenge in which you are already defeated. Nothing to do but reverse fate, overturn the thoughts and predictions which stand looking down with a grin upon its face. This feat may be impossible, but not totally forsaken, for courage prevails over cowardice. Courage, bravery, selflessness, all attributes necessary for winners to possess.
For nearly seven hundred years, myth and legend have obscured the life Sir William Wallace, and there has been a controversy over whether he is a national hero or a traitor. The
A theme shared by The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas and the article “Justice: The First Casualty of the Truth?” is the idea that when the truth occurs justice will occur as well. In fact, one of the many injustices of slavery is their inability to speak honestly, which is a basic human right. Yet, their slave-holders punish them severely for discussing their inconvenience of things. So when Douglas was attending an anti-slavery meeting and “had much to say” (Douglass 74) about how inhumane slavery was and “felt a degree of freedom,” (Douglass 75) for “pleading the cause of [his fellow] brethren” (Douglass 75) and “[leaving] those acquainted with [Frederick’s] labors to decide” (Douglass 75) on how they felt about slavery. Douglas’s
In the first passage entitling “Three Questions” Tolstoy extensively theorizes the answers to three rhetorical questions. Although the questions are open-ended, there is an apparent connection between psychological traits to the given answers. The emperor receives a series of answers from assertive personalities proposing a direct organizing method; meanwhile, the passive approach seeks other people's guidance or just giving up. Despite the plethora of replies, the frustrated emperor ventures to seek a wise determination. Tolstoy is exploiting society’s urge to find definitive answers to questions of ongoing ponderance. In relation, Brave New World explores the same questions within the characters’ dystopian setting. Huxley vivaciously characterizes a society where there is an ultimate hierarchy determining the importance of other’s lives.
Both rhetorical devices and figurative language are used to help the writer explains wishes, feelings, and some situations about the writer’s unable reading problem (dyslexia). The writer also asks some questions and compares him with other famous people to support his purpose, and he wants anyone understand a kid who has been living with dyslexia.
Language is the foundation of all communication, tone, appeal, and rhetoric devices are the building materials used to build upon it. The marvelous structures built with said materials are often referred to as literature and consumed as media, but they are much more than that. These astonishing and breathtaking structures built from these quintessential building blocks are a medium for change, and have been since the dawn of humanity. Just as literature is composed of tone appeal and rhetorical devices, and these in turn stem from the author, occasion, purpose, audience and subject.
Throughout his life, Amir struggles with the significance of religion due to opposing beliefs instilled in him by elders. In school, Amir is taught to blindly follow Islam due to its inherent ubiquity. While not necessarily morally heinous, his teacher makes the students “memorize verses from the Koran—and though he never [translates] the words for [them], he [does] stress…that [they] [have] to pronounce the Arabic words correctly” (Hosseini 15-16). As the passages were left untranslated, Amir is forced to follow and take for granted words that hold no meaning to him. In addition, the act of required memorization of something as personal as religion should be discovered for oneself instead of enforced, but the pervasion of religion into everyday life has permitted this. However, the lessons of Amir’s teacher are not
In this article Douglas talks about the connotations the Fourth of July has for African American slaves. He describes the Fourth of July for slaves as "a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim". Through the use of intense words and phrases such as "gross injustice" he indicates the immensity of the injustice of slavery he is describing. Douglas also uses a set of question to examine the true meaning of freedom and how it applies to all despite the color of their skin. He explores the meaning of universal freedom and states that there is not a man "beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him". He invites his audience to reflect upon the issue of slavery and gives them a chance for personal growth through reflection. The question he poses in the Jeremiad encourage the reader to personally answer those questions and grow from the reflection. These questions not only foster personal growth but also encourage civil engagement. Douglas Jeremiad invites people to act upon their reflection of the passage as well. He tells them to realize the inhumanness of slavery and work to abolish it. Both Reagan and Douglas create
It can be argued that knowing the truth is vital in unfortunate circumstances that would only bring unease and despair. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, citizens are constantly sheltered from anything that would bring unhappiness. Society feels that people should be unaware of how horrible life is. There is even a drug Soma that is designed to bring pleasure to its users and cause joyous hallucinations. Huxley writes with a satirical tone throughout the novel, but overdramatizing can often times be effective to point out certain flaws in society. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, there were multiple concerns for the changing of traditional values. Some of which include advancements in technology leading to a loss of individuality,
In the articles “Alone in the Crowd” and “As technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse?,” Michael Price and Tim Wu, respectively acknowledge the effects of technological advances. While both Price and Wu used effective rhetorical strategies in their articles, one presented their argument in a more effective manner. Wu effectively convinces his audience that as a society we continue to advance technologically, but for the wrong reasons. Price references an interview with Sherry Turkle, to convey his opinion that the social media frenzy consumes our society. Price and Wu both present their point of view, but Wu had more factual information to justify his opinion. The appeal to emotion was stronger in Price’s article; however, in this situation
Of all of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth is perhaps the most effective in its use of rhetoric, most notably within Act One, Scene Seven. This scene portrays an interesting clash between both the logical and pathos driven concerns of Macbeth, and the overwhelmingly pathetic argument of his spouse. The two argue over whether or not Macbeth should commit regicide in order to obtain the throne from the current king, Duncan, with Macbeth initially against doing so and his wife emphatically in favor of the assassination. The passage is exemplary in its usage of rhetorical devices, which, for example, are particularly seen in Shakespeare’s avid employment of parallel sentences and metaphors, and of course the scene's artful use of pathos. Arguably, only through thoughtful and analytical reflection, can one garner a true appreciation for the rhetoric involved in Macbeth's acquiescence to the ad hominem argument of his wife and his inner ambitions.
In the short extract of “Braveheart” Wallace showed what was necessary to be a successful leader. There are many lessons that should be gained from watching William Wallace. First, no matter what the situation was, he was very calm and composed. He was very calm when speaking with the head of the opposing army and very composed while his army was being charged at by opposing forces, even though they were obviously much outnumbered. Another characteristic of how Wallace displayed leadership was his confidence and sense of humor throughout the entire scene. He ordered his troops to pull their pants down and “moon” the English in the middle of a war standoff. I think that this was a very good technique to loosen up the troops and make them more comfortable and confident. Also his confidence was very apparent throughout the war. He told his army that they would lose some lives but in the end they would recover their freedom. The army saw his confidence and in turn, they became more confident about victory as well. Other techniques Wallace used were being inspirational, motivational and patriotic. Before the war started, most of the troops were very uneasy and started to turn around and head home. Wallace came to the front of them, got their attention and made a very inspiring speech that fired them up and turned there attention back to the task at hand. The Scottish army was ready to turn back and concede their freedom to the English. Wallace showed patriotism by painting his face blue for the Scottish flag and encouraged h...