Rhetorical Analysis Of Address On Women's Rights

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Address on Women’s Rights” was an influential piece of rhetoric that was an important part of the fight for women’s rights and still remains relevant to the political and religious bodies of the 21st century. This poignant expression about women’s rights was just the beginning of a long fight for women’s rights that continues to this day, but Elizabeth Cady Stanton also endorsed an idea of reinterpreting scripture to extinguish the oppression of women and other minority groups. This speech was written before the Seneca Falls Convention, which took place in 1848. This convention was held when women were beginning to fight for the right to vote in America. The speeches and conventions surrounding this time are recorded

She was not only active in the political culture of America, but also in the religious culture, as she graduated from Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary in 1832 (“Elizabeth”). Stanton was passionate about both women’s suffrage and abolition, and she focused her efforts to promoting justice in those areas. She worked with other famous women’s rights activists such as Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony, but what set her apart was her religious knowledge and her merging of politics and religion when advocating for women’s rights. She was daring in her willingness to critique religion, politics, and a wide variety of specific issues that surrounded women’s rights. Because of this and other factors, she is often seen as one of the most remarkable figures in the women’s rights movement and in American history as a

She points out the impression of inferiority that this inflicts on women. Again, she brings God into the equation, requesting that woman should be allowed to “live first for God and she will not make imperfect man an object of reverence and idolatry” (Stanton, 3). This statement points to the political climate of this time period, when a woman was politically dependent on her husband. In this situation, Stanton points to the spiritual dangers that that patriarchy could lead to and the religious obstacles that it presented. It is almost implied that the lack of freedom and rights of women in this time could force women to commit idolatry, which is universally accepted by Christians to be against the will of God. As she continues to explore the concepts of a woman being obedient to her husband, she again reinterprets scripture to prove that this oppression was not the intent of the tradition that many cited to justify it (Stanton, 4). Throughout many of her arguments, she redirects the minds of her audiences and exposes new points, all while pointing out the injustice that former viewpoints caused for women.
She finally calls women to action, inviting them to join her in the fight for their very own rights. She cites the fight for the rights of colored people and reminds her