Rhetoric Of Law And Order In Speech By Benito Mussolini

On January 3rd, 1925, Benito Mussolini gave a resounding speech to the Italian Chamber of Deputies proclaiming his authority over the government, the persecution and power of Fascism, and his move towards a dictatorship. Mussolini’s use of “macho” language and rhetoric of law and order in his speech illuminated two of the reasons for his popularity and success of the speech.
By appealing to the aggressive masculinity of the Chamber and the rest of Italy, Mussolini was able to increase his popularity and image as a strong leader. He highlighted three qualities of himself during the speech: “a certain intelligence, much courage, and a sovereign disdain for filthy lucre.” (70) This part of the speech came after he cited the accusations made against

Not only does Mussolini use confident language to assert his dominance, but also a supposed care for the stability of the country. Through his speech, he constantly references moments where he brought maturity and routine in a chaotic and squabbling Chamber. He stated that he “wanted to bring political life back to normalcy,” smartly deflecting blame for the country’s woes on the democratic Chamber and crediting the positive actions on himself. Another example of this sort of rhetoric was when Mussolini cited evidence of his role in placing his own people in jail, of running the Chamber on time and even willing to put a respected member (the Honorable Giunta) on trial. Mussolini portrayed himself to the Italian people, as a ethical leader doing the honorable action, yet being restrained and burdened by the incompetencies and jealousies of his political counterparts. Furthermore, by taking the “full political, moral and historical responsibility for all that has happened” he added more to the persona he built during the speech. In the speech, he claimed to have put hundreds of Fascists in jail for illegal acts. Now he put himself under the same high honorable standard, illustrating his nobleness and humanness. By supposedly incriminating himself, he actually made himself more appealing and stronger than other