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Patrick Henry Rhetorical Questions

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In 1775, Patrick Henry proposed his Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech at the Virginia Convention to persuade America to go to war with Britain. America tried different ways of approaching the situation, but Britain wouldn’t give in. Henry was tired of America being Britain’s slave and wanted independence now. In his speech, he used many literary devices such as rhetorical questions, repetition, and parallelism to convince the colonists to fight for freedom. Throughout the speech, Henry asked many rhetorical questions to help his argument. In the middle of the passage, he asked multiple questions: “And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer …show more content…

Some examples are when he says, "We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!" War was necessary and he greatly emphasized it. Britain took advantage of Americans and didn’t take them seriously. Henry knew that the only way was for Americans have to gather their forces and battle to gain their rights. The title of this speech is an example of parallelism. Parallelism is when parts of a sentence are repeated or similar. When Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death” he is implying that he will fight until he is dead and he hopes that the other colonists will too. He also uses parallelism to question when the people will take action: "Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?" Henry said that war had already begun, but now it’s time for the colonists to take control. Henry’s use of the rhetorical questions, parallelism, and repetition was effective. Colonists realized that protesting wasn’t working and the only way to separate from Britain was to go to war. They also realized they must work together and use all power available. America went to war with Britain and gained independence, although there were many

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Under the control of the British Parliament in 1775, the American colonies consider going to war in order to gain independence from Britain. In “Patrick Henry’s Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Henry addresses the need for American colonists to work together to stop the British from controlling them. Thus, Henry’s periodic sentence, rhetorical questions, antithesis, and anaphora successfully convince the American colonists to unite against the British and to bring awareness to their wrongdoings. Firstly, Henry applies periodic sentences and rhetorical questions to convey the idea that the American Colonists must fight back against the British by working together if they want to gain freedom. Henry believes that “if [they] wish to

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748 Words | 3 Pages

At the Virginia convention in 1774, the delegates such as Patrick Henry, gather to decide their course of action, in a time where their primary goal was to rid themselves of their oppressor, Great Britain. Patrick Henry addresses the other delegates and discloses his opinion on what course of action the people should take. In his speech at the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry forcefully influences the audience to go to war with Great Britain through diction, figurative language and rhetorical devices and by confronting them with their current position of danger in the face of the inevitable British Invasion. Patrick Henry emphasizes his opinion of the necessary war by using diction such as ethos and logos, through appeals to their senses that make connections for the audience. Through Henry’s repetitive utilization of ethos

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738 Words | 3 Pages

In Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Henry uses persuasive techniques such as repetition and rhetorical questions to interrogate the motives of the British and to reason why the colonies should declare their independence despite the consequences. In Henry’s speech, he uses repetition to address that war is inevitable to show how they must fight in order to achieve their goals as a nation and to prove that the colonists will not be alone over the course of the battle. In Henry’s speech he includes, “The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!” By this quote, Henry is saying that the colonists have already gone so far and worked so hard to give up now.

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610 Words | 3 Pages

In the essay ‘’Civil Disobedience’’ by Henry David it teaches the very beginning moment of resistance the government for the cause of knowing something for being morally wrong. This is because of the ideas that he formed in his essay of a sharp-witted planned out study introducing the main three methods of persuasion. He included by giving each example of logos, ethos, and pathos. Henry made himself clear what he was advocating for and inspire other to do Civil disobedience movement in the near future.

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1018 Words | 5 Pages

When he said, "Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself guilty of treason towards my own country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings” (9). He is saying that this is what he entails to achieve for his God. Trying to grant the audience a diverse viewpoint, rather than discrediting their own. During his speech, Henry made biblical references such as, “Different men often see the same subject in different lights" (2). The word light was used by Henry, to show again that his views are like gods, and he is not against them.

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345 Words | 2 Pages

Patrick Henry’s claim in his speech to the Virginia Convention is war with England is the only way to win freedom and their desires because England makes this the only choice. Before Patrick went up there were other men that had spoken before him, these men were speaking their views on whether or not they should initialize the war. Once Patrick has his chance to say his part he believes that they should fight because England hasn’t been fair. Patrick states this basically by saying “An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us”. This is such a powerful statement because what he’s proposing is extremely dangerous.

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Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication?" He's making them think about everything they've done in the past that hasn't worked. Another example of logos is "Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrance have produced additional violence insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. There is no longer any room for hope. " Henry is telling us that the British have been unresponsive to anything but armed resistance.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Henry also uses repetition, in order to create emphasis. It reinforces the purpose of the speech and the speaker’s main arguments. Here, Henry states, “We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!” This exhibits the speaker’s inflammatory language, which calls for action, provokes anger, and triggers strong emotions.

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Patrick henry uses rhetorical appeals by using God to persuade memebers of the virginia convention to go to war with Britian. He uses pathos, logos, and ethos because he appeasl to peoples emotions and how they feel about going to war with Britain. Henry is a person who fights to get what he wants. He's a man that believes fighting is the only way of getting freedom. Henry is a credible speaker because of this he gets some to agree with him on going to war with Britain, and some still disagree becasue some say they are not ready, they are weak.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry presented the idea of fighting against Great Britain for liberty, which Great Britain had suppressed the American colonists for years. Freedom and liberty were necessary for the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies to feel like individual people. Every person should be able to decide the action they would take and the responsibilities they would have. This speech was remarkable and memorable for the start of the bold actions that changed the world forever. Patrick Henry persuade the colonist to fight the British government by using his strong voice as a weapon.

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756 Words | 4 Pages

In 1775 the American Colonies stood at a tipping point. Britain and the Colonies had been embroiled in a continuing struggle over numerous injustices, and the Colonies seemed at long last situated to engage in a revolution against Britain. However, the colonial representatives were still tied up in negotiations with Britain, and many delegates of the Virginia Convention wanted to delay actions until the negotiations had concluded. Patrick Henry disagreed with the delay, so he addressed the Convention, arguing for the need to mobilize troops against the British, a request tantamount to treason. Instead of shying away from the polarizing nature of his argument, Henry adopted a respectful, but urgent, tone, crafting an argument that would inspire his audience into action.

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Patrick Henry Argument Analysis Throughout Patrick Henry’s speech, he uses many literary devices to convey his thought and opinions to his audience, and with it, he hopes to alter or sway their views on the subject matter. Starting from the very end of Henry's speech, he states “but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”, this now infamous line uses the logical fallacy of false dilemma. This fallacy, also known as either/or, plays to his advantage as it makes the problem seem greater than it actually is by only presenting two extreme options, liberty or death. Another literary device Henry uses in his speech, is ethos, which appeals to the audience's moral or ethical plane.

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Henry’s Method for Achieving His Purpose In the speech Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry uses allusion, symbolism, juxtaposition, and rhetorical questions to achieve his purpose. Henry’s purpose is to convince the Loyalists of his cause, which this speech does effectively. Because he used strong rhetorical devices, his language really clarified his points in why the Loyalists should commit treason and join the war, effectively convincing them to join the revolution.

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460 Words | 2 Pages

On March 23,1775 Patrick Henry convinced colonists to fight against Britain by using four rhetorical devices which were allusion, imagery, one-word sentences and rhetorical questions. He did this by reading his famous speech called “the Virgina Convention speech”. These four devices helped Patrick Henry convinced many people that were still not willing to go to war. Patrick Henry purpose for using allusion was to helped him connect with the listeners. “Listen to the song of the siren till she transforms us into beast.”

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

Henry's way of using pathos convinced all the people listening to him, that they felt the same way he did about the arising situation. When Henry used ethos, he continued to show the urgent actions that needed to be done. As Henry's last sentence to the Virginia Convention,“Give me liberty or give me death!” showed that he was willing to die if that was what needed to be done, for the colonists to be free. Patrick Henry was a wonderful speaker and really knew how to capture

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