Letter To Napoleon Rhetorical Devices

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During the 1850s, French writer Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Misérables, and other popular works was banished by Napoleon III for writings considered critical of the government. In English poet’s Elizabeth Browning un-mailed letter to Napoleon the III, she implores him to pardon French poet Hugo. Browning employs various rhetorical strategies and devices in order to persuade the Emperor, including logos, pathos, and appeal to flattery. Browning begins her letter to Napoleon by acknowledging her insignificant status and contrasting her rank with his prestige in an appeal to flattery. Browning acknowledges his magnanimity in line 45 and claims she is driven to his feet (line 68-69), once again highlighting her low