Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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Well respected Puritan MInister, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741), testifies about the consequences of unrepentant sinners. Edwards’ purpose is to express to the congregation the idea of refusing to repent leads to many punishments. He develops a dramatic tone in order to justify that non repentance is inescapable. Edwards emphasizes repetition, vivid metaphor, and extreme imagery in his use of pathos. In his sermon, Edwards uses repetition all throughout his message. One way he uses repetition in his sermon is “As one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall.” (paragraph 1). This method is used as an appeal to pathos. Edwards uses repetition to emphasize his message so the people of the congregation will listen to him. The response that he wants from his audience is he wants them to repent so they do not go to hell. His method was very effective because …show more content…

“The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day.” (paragraph 7) is one application of a metaphor in his message to the congregation. He implements this into his sermon to appeal to people with fear. Edwards wants to scare the congregation by telling them that no one sees death coming. The response he wants from the people is for them to repent. The congregation wants to repent, so this technique worked. Extreme imagery is another example of a method that Edwards uses within his message. “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder”( paragraph 3). He references imagery so the people can picture what he’s saying, in this particular usage of imagery he wants the audience to imagine the wrath of Gods anger. The response he wants from the congregation is for them to repent so god will no longer be “angry” at them. His method was effective because the congregation is scared of what God will do to