Rhetorical Analysis Of Queen Elizabeth's Speech

One of Queen Elizabeth’s famous speeches is delivered to motivate the troops at Tilbury as they await the Spanish armada in 1588. The infamous speech incorporates both rhetorical influence and women empowerment. Queen Elizabeth’s brief speech utilizes rhetorical strategies of diction, epiphora, and tone that play an important role in encouraging the troops to fight for their queen and country. Queen Elizabeth had a difficult task, to convince her subjects that she was a worthy and sovereign ruler, even though she is a woman and women monarchs in the past had failed. Queen Elizabeth’s speech to the troops includes incredible diction that inspires loyalty from her subjects and against the threatening Spanish. Her hostile words against the Spanish include: tyrants, foul scorn, and enemies of my God; Queen Elizabeth make the Spanish seem inhuman or barbaric, and the superior English must fight against their enemies. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth uses the pronoun ‘I’ throughout the speech, which makes it more authoritative and personal to the troops. “I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field” (Queen Elizabeth). The pronouns with addition …show more content…
From the beginning, Queen Elizabeth sets the tone of her speech, which is motivational and caring. “My loving people” (Queen Elizabeth). This three letter sentence informs her army that she is their ruler and she is trustworthy. Moreover, the tone is authoritative because as a woman leader she needs the support and devotion of her comrades and nation. “...I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm” (Queen Elizabeth). Queen Elizabeth establishes herself as the divine and worthy ruler of England and of higher-caliber than the princes of