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Rhetorical Analysis Of Madeleine Albright's Speech

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In 1997, the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, gave a speech to the graduating class of the women’s Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Her speech emphasizes the importance of women’s rights and the importance of perseverance and the ability to make a difference. She uses a myriad rhetorical techniques to get this message across, such as repetition, allusions to history, and emotional appeals with stories from around the world. Albright’s speech aims to get across the main idea that the women graduating from Mount Holyoke College have the ability to change the world so long as they have perseverance. After describing struggles for justice from women around the world, she states the ways in which the graduating class can also change …show more content…

She first mentions how coming off of the recent women’s rights movement, women all around the world are rising up, and not backing down. She relates these women to the graduating class of Mount Holyoke College, saying “Mount Holyoke is the home, to borrow Wendy Wasserstein’s phrase, of ‘uncommon women.’” By labeling the graduating class as “uncommon women”, Albright forces the listeners to view themselves as important participants in the women’s rights movement, and make them feel like they also have the ability to rise up and create change. To emotionally tie her listeners to the importance of creating change, she also states anecdotes from women around the world. From her travels to several countries, Albright tells the stories of women she has seen. Whether fighting for equal rights, ending discrimination, or reviving a war-torn country, she references these women’s stories to show that change is still important. By previously relating the graduating class to these other women, Albright forces the graduating women to view themselves as an important piece in women’s rights history. Those listening to her speech will be emotionally affected by these stories, and the way their position in the world is related to these women’s struggles will inspire them to also create change in the

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