ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Samuel Johnson's Letter To A Bishop

661 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Samuel johnson letter rhetorical analysis

In a letter refusing to recommend a women’s son to a bishop for university, Samuel Johnson crafts a complex argument against doing so and substantiates his position with legitimate reasons and evidence. Johnson’s argument is highlighted by his very successful blend of term definitions, progressions in tone, and rhetorical appeals to logic (logos). When these components were used concurrently, Johnson was able to display his decline of the women’s request while evading any blame on his part. In the very beginning of his letter, Johnson predicts the exact feeling that the mother who sent him a request possesses: “hope.” In his overall goal, he wanted to dismantle this sense. Rather than bluntly criticizing her optimism, Johnson proceeds to define …show more content…

Firstly, he shifts his tone to prepare the mother for the criticism for her actions and intents. Johnson’s tone expresses his “hope” that the mother forgets about her current “hopes” of a college future of her son. His tone was more accusatory than ever before, emphasizing the many things she “should have considered” before reaching out to him with a ridiculous proposal. Then he uses a different tonal approach which was more emotionally-friendly but more emphatic in logic. For instance, he emphasizes that he feels stranger to his son because he has “no means of knowing [her son’s goodness] to be true.” In saying this, his avoids criticizing the women’s son while still getting across his point that he doesn’t know her son personally to give assistance. Johnson purposely utilizes both approaches out of excellent anticipation for the mother’s reactions as well as to prevent any further discussions with …show more content…

But before he conveys any blunt truths, he displays a respect (and understanding) for the mother’s fallacies. However, in a logical rebuttal, he explains that “there was no reason” why he should have assisted her and her son to, “whom he had never spoke,” attend college. Furthermore, Johnson emphasizes the very remote possibility of the women’s request by first explaining what “great pleasure” he would have of seeing it through; however, the request was deemed “remote by usual methods.” This thought is an elaboration of an earlier statement where he emphasized the need for “rules to be broken” for the women to get what she desired. Just like his use of definitions in paragraph one, the use of logos in paragraph two forces the mother to recognize the faults in her request for assistance while successfully diverting the blame (for the rejection) off of his

Show More
Related
239 Words | 1 Pages

He bases this on the notion that he has no “particular relationship both to the Archbishop and the lady.” Johnson’s effective use of reasoning could best be defined as the way he responded to “Madam”. Stated previously it was mentioned that Johnson’s request was based on position and respect. Using factual statement we are able to understand why the author bases his ideas on the relationship and position of himself and that of

Read More
356 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail Adams writes to her son, John Quincy Adams, about the voyage he is undertaking with his father. Throughout the letter she guides and encourages John. Adams’s purpose of enlightening her son on the fortune of opportunity, is presented by powerful adjectives, connective analogies along with the emotional pull on achieving great things. As Adams constructs the letter, she represents her feeling through powerful adjectives and personal repetition aimed towards her son.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Every mother wants what the best for her child, even if that child may not believe so. In her letter to her son, John Quincy Adams, Abigail Adams addresses him during his travels in France and defends the rationale of her previous advice while providing her new advice, and partly demands, on the subjects of honor and duty. Abigail Adams uses emotional appeals in the form of personal repetition, flattering metaphors, and prideful personification in order to advise and persuade her son in his personal growth and appeal to his personal qualities, such as pride of honesty and knowledge, to spur his ambitions and actions. To start off the letter, after greeting him and explaining the occasion of her writing, Abigail uses personal repetition with the word “your,” before qualities and events with a positive connotation to appeal to John’s pride and leave him open to listen to more of her her advice, as she already successfully advised him in his trip to France. In only the second sentence of the letter, Abigail already throws in that her advice is, to John, “for your own benefit,” (5) later she speaks of, once again to John, “your knowledge,” (11) and finally, “your understanding,” (14).

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

After this conversation, the author continues on in saying that the mother is saying that he strives in school is because he is

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

In Johnson’s letter to the British lawmaker, who decides that when individuals can’t repay their debt, should be put in a debtor prison, is establishing to the lawmaker that this is against human kind to punish those who are not as fortunate as others who are able to have clothes on there backs against those who can’t. Johnson explains how it is hard to be able to have or scramble up the money in order to stay out of debt as he says in his letter, “those who are confined in gaols by their creditors, an enquiry is aid to have been made by which it appears that more than twenty thousand are at this time prisoners for debt.” Johnson has realized that the lawmaker doesn’t have an ounce of care for these people and what will happen to them, the

Read More
1126 Words | 5 Pages

Written in 1977, “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters” by Anne Tyler, encapsulated the struggle that parents of disabled children faced in the time period. In the 70’s not much was known about mental disorders, leaving parents to either give up their children to an institution or face the challenge of raising a disabled child. This is the internal conflict that the main character, Bet, faces throughout the short story; she contemplates whether sending her child to an institution is wrong. Considering that society was so critical of her son, along with the fact that Bet, herself, was abandoned, she has to reach a solution, a compromise. Whether sending her son to an institution is wrong or not, Bet comes to prevail over her emotion to realize

Read More
328 Words | 2 Pages

This excerpt from Samuel Johnson’s “Debtors’ Prisons (2)” puts Johnson’s thoughts and ideas on the necessity of jailing those who fail to pay back their debts forth quite plainly. In the second paragraph, Johnson describes a scene to his audience that restates how the general public would typically react to a person being arrested for that very reason. Johnson continues his anecdote with a situation that parallels the goings-on in Britain at that time - the misfortune that is befalling several people unable to pay back their debts.. It is easy to ignore it when it is only one person, but something must be done when it is happening to so many. Johnson uses another anecdote in paragraph 5 that appeals to the emotions of his audience.

Read More
377 Words | 2 Pages

Biological Mother, Abigail Adams in her letter to her son, applies to him some advice which she hopes will make him a better man. Adams purpose is to give advice to her son so that he can become a good man and bring honor to his country. She adopts an uplifting tone in order to get her son to listen to her so he can prepare for whatever comes his way. Abigail begins her letter by explaining that she has given him advice before and he had listened to her

Read More
265 Words | 2 Pages

Matthew 3:1-3 ~ ESV "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. " For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way for The Lord; make His paths straight.'" In this season, it can be easy to be distracted by all the things that must be done before Christmas.

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

To explain this further, he walks her through what the request would have resulted in. The situation, in his eyes, is that he was asked to “solicit a great man, to whom [he] never spoke, for a young person whom [he] had never seen, upon a supposition which [he] had no means of knowing true.” He does this to show that he is willing to share his perspective and that he respects her enough to walk her through it, instead of blatantly saying no without any reason. The mother’s request is logically reasoned inductively to be irrational, leaving him no possible reason or possible procedure to accomplish the task at hand. While it may not have been this extreme, Johnson effectively and logically convinces the mother that she made a mistake in drafting such a letter.

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

In “1984” George Orwell conveys many themes. The theme I’ll be focusing on is individuality/Freedom of thought and speech. The entire plot of the book is based around Winston’s individuality. The book is based on his need for freedom of speech. The need for freedom of thought is what lands many different characters in jail.

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

He simply wants to fit in and feel included with the rest of his family. Later in the novel, Johnson arrives home from the brutal war. After observing the mature change in Johnson’s character post-war, Jess decides he needs to follow Johnson, and “grow

Read More
495 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail Adams, the mother of John Quincy Adams, is entering a new chapter in her life in which her youngest son is becoming a man. John, his elder brother, and his father are traveling on a long, treacherous voyage to France. Abigail Adams writes John an encouraging letter that will help display her feelings towards him as a mother. Adams uses a number of different rhetorical devices such as a myriad of different historical and metaphorical examples, as well as a motherly diction in order to leave a desired confidence in her son.

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail Adams Letter In 1780 Abigail Adams writes a letter to her son, John Quincy Adams. When Abigail writes this letter, John is on his second voyage, with his father, to France, America’s ally. When Abigail writes this letter she is trying to prove that going on this voyage will have great positive effects on his life. She is effective in proving her point because she uses Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and other rhetorical strategies convey her message and meaning to him.

Read More
546 Words | 3 Pages

In John Downe’s letter to his wife about emigrating to the United States, he uses personal anecdotes to appeal to ethos and logos, subjective diction to appeal to pathos, and comparative devices to contrast the United States and England. In his letter, Downe refers to his personal experiences in America to add credibility to his attempts to convince his wife. “... they had on the table pudding, pyes, and fruit of all kind that was in season, and preserves, pickles, vegetables, meat, and everything that a person could wish…,” using a personal anecdote, he tries to sway his wife into believing that every family in America is this fortunate. It’s established that he was poor prior to moving to America, so he speaks of trips to the American markets like, “I can have 100 lbs.

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Samuel Johnson's Letter To A Bishop

Related Topics

Open Document