How Did Tilbury Use Elizabeth's Speech To The Troops In 1588

Queen Elizabeth I’s speech devised at Tilbury, Essex focused on the war being played. At the time of this speech, an intense war had broken out between Spain and England called the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). The reason for the uprising of this war resulted from religious and economic purposes, but it also occurred from the ongoing Eighty Years War; or Dutch War of Independence. However, the main causes for the royal address began when Queen Elizabeth signed the death warrant for Mary Queen of Scot for involving herself in the Babington Plot to murder Elizabeth and crowning herself Queen. Mary was the Catholic great-granddaughter of Henry VII; therefore, she was the legitimate heir to the throne while Elizabeth was a Protestant daughter.

As a result, he took action and attacked England with his forces in Spain and the Netherlands. Queen Elizabeth I, portraying the benevolent role as Queen, took hold of the situation that occurred in Tilbury, Essex, by arriving on horseback in her battle armor to give them her royal address. Based on the “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 1588,” delivered on August 9, 1588, Queen Elizabeth patriotically used rhetorical devices such as diction, ethos, and imagery to manipulate, but also motivate her troops and her people to understand that it is her duty as the ruler of England to lead her soldiers to fight with bravery, loyalty, and honor against the Spanish Armada.To be able to touch the heart of the people of England, Elizabeth used simple but semantic diction in her speech. She described her people as “faithful” and “loving” who has “loyalty” and “good-will.” These complimentary words adjust their paradigm of their queen as a warm-hearted, solicitous ruler. To invoke her people to fight in the battle she convinced them that it is a task they must comply with, she referred to her people as “noble” and “worthy”

To sway her people’s view on the enemies, she referred the foes as the enemies of both the people of England and God with words such as “treachery,” “blood,” “foul,” “ scorn,” and “dishonour.” These statements prompted the troops to know that to be the followers of God they must defeat their opponents. On the subject of God, Elizabeth puts emphasis on her role being closer to God by using ethos in her speech. In one statement, she stated how “under God” she would appoint her “chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will” in her subjects. By announcing this, Elizabeth boosted her credibility by making an oath under God’s name. However, not only did she established her position by forming an alliance with a higher power, but she also compared herself with qualities that a leader has by proclaiming how she has the “heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” This is another significant way of using ethos since she included a king, most well known, the king of England. By doing this, Elizabeth can draw her troops into her side because of the connection and relation she has with other renounced figure of