Syntax In Queen Elizabeth's Speech At Tilbury

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In a time of conflict it is important for the involved countries to unite. Just the idea of being united makes the country stronger and more powerful, thus increasing their chances of winning the war. When Queen Elizabeth performed this speech, England was entering a conflict against the Spanish and their strong naval force. The Spanish were superior in their military forces, meaning the Queen needed to strengthen and unite her country to defeat the Spanish, which the Queen accomplished through this speech. Queen Elizabeth uses syntax, parallelism, and metaphors in her speech at Tilbury to promote the necessary strength and unity to defeat the Spanish. Throughout the speech, Queen Elizabeth chose syntax with a goal of uniting Britain, specifically through the use and emphasis of pronouns such as “we,” and “they”. Queen Elizabeth repeatedly uses both of these pronouns, however in the following quote the pronouns have more value, “and We do assure you on a word of a price, they shall be duly paid,” (lines 30-32). In this quote she is pitting the two groups against each other by replacing “the Spanish” with “they,”. The choice of these group pronouns creates an us vs. them mentality, pitting the British against the Spanish. In …show more content…

Throughout the speech the main instance of parallelism occurs in this quote, “I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field,”(lines 25-28). The juxtaposition of the phrase, “I myself,” and roles she will fill, creates unity between the Queen and her subjects. Unity is created specifically by placing the Queen in roles common men could hold, thus eliminating the divide between the rich and powerful and the average citizen. By repeating the phrase multiple times the Queen further emphasises the idea of unity letting the reader or listener know the creation of unity was done