Christopher Columbus Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Christopher Columbus had two very different tones in his letters. Columbus’s tone in his first “letter to Luis de Santangel” (1493) is cheerful and optimistic. He portrays a positive picture when describing the islands, he has visited, boastfully claimed, and renamed as “possession for his highnesses” (Columbus, 1493, p 25). He describes the islands as “very fertile to a limitless degree” with “many rivers good and large, which are marvelous” (Columbus, 1493, p. 25). Columbus illustrates these lands as having much to offer Spain and Luis de Santangel. Luis “helped secure financing” for this voyage, so naturally he wants to make these lands sound more appealing than they are (Columbus, 1493, p. 25). Columbus exaggerates when he talks of nightingales, honeybees, and mines of metal, which do not exist on the islands (Columbus, 1493). He wants to be financed for future expeditions. …show more content…

During this time in Columbus’s life, he has become a sad, broken man, and has written this in a state of desperation. This is brought upon by several events. The lands he “discovered” and governed have fallen into “an exhausted state” and the “infirmary is incurable or very extensive” (Columbus, 1505, p. 26). Columbus had horrible experiences such as being “made a prisoner and with my two brothers was thrown into a ship, laden with fetters, stripped to the skin, very ill-treated and without being tried or condemned” (Columbus, 1505, p. 27). He writes of how he had devotedly worked for his highness, and is upset that all his possessions and honor have been taking away from him (Columbus, 1505). Finally, he pleas for his highness to bring him back to Europe so he may ask forgiveness for the