The Destructive Male By Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Speech Analysis

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“The Destructive Male” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton advocates women’s suffrage. She strikes the male element with articles of emotional, logical, and ethical appeals. Stanton gave her speech at a women’s suffrage convention in 1868. She gave her speech in front of men, women, radicals, and conservatives. Stanton begins her speech by stating her purpose and attacking males. Stanton gives a list of the violent actions that men have done and how those violent actions have started many tragic events, including wars and slavery. Stanton talks about the male element and how it overpowers its female counterpart. Throughout Stanton’s speech she has many emotional, logical, and ethical appeals.
The purpose of Elizabeth Cady Stanton speech was to bring attention to women’s suffrage. Throughout her speech she deliberately speaks about the political and social norms that were excluding women in 1868. Stanton begins her speech by saying that men were over privileged and often times downgraded women. She also urges a sixteenth amendment. When Stanton says “I urge a sixteenth amendment”, she means that she wants to evoke a new amendment, stating women’s rights, including voting rights. She says that men are a deadly element, stating that they are ‘stern, selfish, and violent”. Stanton lived her life trying to boost women's rights. Her father Daniel Cady was an …show more content…

She starts explaining how the United States history is filled with “blood and cruelty“ due to the male element. This is portrayed by things such as the Civil War, which is what cause a fourteenth amendment. All through her speech Stanton is sure to highlight the faults of men, and emphasizes the goodness of womanhood. By pointing out the grace of womanhood it gives the audience many different reasons to support women. In her speech Stanton says the phrase that many of the males in government had been saying all along “the right of suffrage will make the women