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Rhetoric In Drunk History

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Every writer has a goal in mind when writing. For some that goal is to entertain, for others, it’s to educate. When writing, authors have many tools or tricks they use. One of the more common tools is rhetoric. There are three main components of a good rhetoric argument, ethos, pathos, and logos. Today I will be looking at several short videos and analyzing how the use of rhetoric persuades the audience.

The first video, “Drunk History – Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks” is about a young black girl (Claudette Colvin) in the 1950s, who refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white woman. Because of this refusal, Claudette is forcibly removed from the bus and immediately arrested. Shortly after the release of Claudette, and fed up with …show more content…

Thomas Jefferson” does a better job showing the use of rhetoric. The video features two uses of rhetoric, ethos (credibility) and pathos (appealing to emotion). The story starts with Jefferson and Adams as best friends, that is until Adams gets elected president. Once elected Adams becomes somewhat of a tyrant, he begins bending and manipulating the constitution as he sees fit. Jefferson is unhappy with how Adams is running the country, so, he decides to run against him in the next election. This is the point where things begin to heat up and rhetoric comes into play. Angry that Jefferson has decided to run against him, Adams uses the newspaper to start a smear campaign against Jefferson. He does this with help from ethos, the "persuasion through the audience 's perception of the speaker", (Austin 664) and pathos, the “appeals to emotion.” (Austin 177) Because Adams is president people respect him and what he says, they take him on his word. Adams uses his credibility as president to manipulate the public into thinking terrible things about Jefferson. Adams does a great job using his position, and the trust that comes with it, to evoke an emotional response from the public. That emotional response, or fear, will hopefully then causes the public to vote for Adams. Jefferson realizes what Adams is doing and decides to use this tactic himself. The two end up going back and forth until the

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Rhetorical Devices in “Speech in the Virginia Convention” Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” was a persuasive speech in favor of the revolution against the British Parliament. Like many people, at the time, Henry wanted to break free from Britain and start the United States of America. He delivered the speech on March 23, 1775 to the Virginia Convention with serious tone in attempt to rally up the convention for war. In the speech Henry used many rhetorical devices to persuade the convention. Some of the more effective devices are restatement, hypophora, and antithesis.

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Ultimately, Pathos was the most effective form of rhetoric used in the speech. In his Speech to the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry uses pathos best persuade the colonists. Henry applies pathos in the form of sarcasm and rhetorical questions to get his point across. “Give me liberty or give me death!” , the last words of Patrick Henry's speech still generate passion

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On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry, a Virginia Lawyer, used rhetorical devices in his speech “Give me Liberty or give me Death!”.   The rhetorical devices created an emotional and powerful speech.   It motivates the Virginia house members to raise a militia to fight against the British army. Rhetorical devices are a patterns of ideas that stir the emotions, create an emphasis by repetition, and persuades the audience to action.  

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Host, Derek Waters, in two of the videos, “Drunk History: Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks” and “Drunk History: John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson,” engages with inebriated guest who recount the history of the U.S. The purpose of the first is to portray the contribution of Colvin and Parks to the Bus Boycott by having an intoxicated woman narrate the story. The second depicts the deterioration of Adams and Jefferson’s friendship during the 1800 election which is reiterated by a tipsy man. The first video adopts a sympathy tone in order to elicit a similar emotion from discriminatory experiences in the adult viewers. In the second video, it adopts a ridiculous tone in order to convey amusement in the adult viewers.

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The Rhetorical Strategy of a Powerful Argument Patrick Henry’s “Speech of the Virginia Convention” had many interesting rhetorical strategies. The ones that were most notable was diction, logs appeal, allusion, and imagery. The “Speech of the Virginia Convention” was a strong argument to convince the patriots, loyalist, and the colonist for freedom. Patrick Henry only wanted the best for his fellow americans and for him. His “Speech of the Virginia Convention” led the argument to war with the british.

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