Rhetorical Analysis Of Susan B Anthony

In the year of 1873, Susan B. Anthony had been arrested for casting an illegal vote at the last presidential election. This time period was known as the Women’s Rights Movement. Many women had began to acknowledge that they were treated unfair by society’s standards against them, and had began to stand up for themselves and their fellow women. At this time, women were not allowed to vote. Most were stay-at-home mothers because men did not find them suitable for most jobs the men accommodated, and society discouraged them from even getting a real education. Instead, they were expected to clean the house, care for the children, Women were taught to take whatever they get, whether it be physical abuse from their husbands or sexual assault from

Anthony also used pathos, which plays on the listener’s emotions and passions to pull at their heartstrings and listen to the speaker and what he or she has to say, to gather the listeners attention. An example of this form of persuasion would be when Anthony claims,“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens…” Another strong use of this would be towards the end of the speech when Anthony questions, “Are women persons?” When Anthony asked this, people must've given her their attention, for she asked something they would never expect. She got them to thinking, to wondering why, since women in fact were persons, they were not granted the same rights they themselves may or may not have the privilege to exercise. Towards end of the speech, Anthony compares herself and other women to negroes. She uses this comparison to show how women were being treated in this new society. Negro men were allowed to vote, but she still wasn't, nor were negro women. Anthony states, “ Hence every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against

“Friends and fellow citizens…” would be a form of ethos. They knew her, they trusted her, and they were willing to listen to her and what she had to say. Ethos was also used when Anthony included “we the people”. This serves as a gentle reminder that although she has been in trouble with the law and was then speaking in front of several people, she was just like everyone else. Anthony also uses logos, the use of facts and logic to persuade the listener that the speaker is or correct, when she contributes the preamble of the constitution. She proves to the listener that it is her right to vote, for she is a citizen. Logos is used again when Anthony states, “For any state to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people is to pass a bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, and is therefor a violation of the supreme law of the land.” Anthony uses this to prove just how wrong it is for society to believe that the way women are treated is