Debtors Prison Rhetorical Analysis

254 Words2 Pages
Samuel Johnson makes good use of rhetorical strategies in “Debtors’ Prisons (2)”. His position on debtors’ prisons is well supported because of them. This essay will detail how Samuel Johnson uses rhetorical strategies to support his claim. Johnson appeals to the emotions of the reader frequently. “...when twenty thousand reasonable beings are heard all groaning in unnecessary misery, not by the infirmity of nature, but the mistake or negligence of policy, who can forbear to pity and lament, to wonder and abhor?” (line 12-16) the words create vivid imagery that aids in trying to evoke an emotional response in the reader. ‘If we estimate at a shilling a day what is lost by the inaction and consumed in the support of each man thus chained