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Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama's Inaugural Speech

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1) Introduction The inaugural ceremony of 2009, served as historically monuments day for the citizens of the United States of America. Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of America and even more significant, he would serve as the country’s first African American president. Many doubted his ability, citing his age and ambition, even his inexperience, as detrimental factors. Furthermore, he had inherited a crippling economy, the likes of which had not been seen since the Great Depression of 1929. The inaugural address, made by the incoming president, serves as his first official speech, marking the start of his term in office. Obama is in a unique position in history, not only is he the first African American president, but he faces …show more content…

The first theoretical element which will be discussed is the rhetorical genre of the speech. In specific the epidictic and deliberative genres will be examined in how their requirements are satisfied by this address. Secondly, inventio, the first phase of the speech will be discussed. Internal, artificial proofs found within inventio, namely ethos, pathos and logos will be analysed in so far as they are found within the inaugural speech. Thirdly, the second phase of the speech, dispositio, the speech’s composition will be inspected. The dispositio can be divided into various parts and this analysis will seek to demonstrate the exordium, the narratio, propositio, confirmatio and peroratio, as found within Obama’s address. Lastly, the third phase of the speech, the elocutio will be discussed. This element relates to the formulation of the speech and the figures of style incorporated into the 2009 inaugural speech will be deliberated in as much as they satisfy this third phase. This will be done in attempt to prove that Obama’s first inaugural speech was rhetorically effective; that it was successful in its aim of commemorating such a historically significant event and that it did in fact address the concerns of the people for whom it was

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