Rhetorical Analysis Of The Women's Rights Movement By 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 were beginning to acknowledge that they were treated unfairly 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

One rhetorical device that she uses is asyndeton, which is the absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence. This is used when Anthony states, “Being persons, then, women are citizens; and on state has the right to make any law, or enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities.” This element of literature helps prove her point that everyone is equal and should be treated as such. Anthony also uses anaphora, which is the repetition of a word at the beginning of the phrase, when she claims, “a hateful oligarchy of sex”, “an oligarchy of wealth”, and “an oligarchy of learning” which would shock fear into the listener. Anthony then again uses another rhetorical device called hypophora, which is where the speaker raises a question and then answers it immediately after. An example of this would be when Anthony questioned, “Are women persons?” to which she answered immediately after to say that women are, although they are not treated as such.
Anthony’s strong use of her rhetorical devices, and use of her ethos, pathos, and logos, is what made the speech so powerful and well-remembered. Anthony’s speeches, along with several other speeches from several other women and their peaceful protests, encouraged America to move forward past their prejudice and accept the fact that women are in fact citizens, and deserve to exercise every right the founding fathers granted