Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech To The Troops At Tilbury

The majority of people may hastily assume that the rhetoric of faith is only seen throughout sermons in church and other purely religious events, but there is more to it than simply that. The rhetoric of faith, as a whole, can spread from Jeremiads outlining an ideal society all the way to speeches within a normal classroom setting; nevertheless, it always plays an important role when an audience has to take a leap of faith into a rhetor’s arms. Narrowing down the wide spectrum of these sermonic texts, one may arrive at Queen Elizabeth I’s “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury”, which was originally crafted in 1588. Just as some of her former speeches have done, Elizabeth ensures an effective presentation using many different types of rhetorical

After many years of hiatus, the conflict between Protestant England and Catholic Spain had come to a climax; lanterns had been lit on the coast of Tilbury, signaling for the congregation of the troops. Elizabeth gave her speech, and, as a true ruler, accompanied her troops out to battle. Just as Heather Sharnette phrased it, after the battle, “The Queen's confidence in God and her people [were] rewarded.” (“The Spanish Armada” para. 5). Queen Elizabeth managed to rally faith among her troops using an extremely sermonic pattern of speech, employing various rhetorical strategies, such as strongly loaded and reverential language as well as metaphor and parallelism, in order to create a very euphonic and inspiring experience for her

In order to inspire and capture the attention of her audience full of religious citizens who are soldiers, Elizabeth takes advantage of reverential and loaded language. First, loaded language was used in order to appeal to the troops’ pathos, dealing with the subject of her as a woman as well as Spain being their enemy—the English felt very strongly against any other religions besides their own—: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman. . .” (Elizabeth LL. 9). Simply, the addition of “weak and feeble” frames the passage with much more intensity, appealing to her audience in the way that the soldiers may find a sense of intimacy within it; furthermore, it can also be seen as a rebuttal to any naysayers to a woman becoming monarch. Her constant and direct address to them, not leaving out the details of being a queen, allows the soldiers to find hope within her speech; thus, the rhetoric of faith falls into place. As for reverential language, Elizabeth can be seen to complement her people and God, taking on a loving and motherly tone: “. . .but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people.” (Elizabeth LL. 3-4). No matter where she takes her oral delivery, Elizabeth always manages to praise her subjects in one way or another. Usually, reverential language is