Rhetorical Analysis Of Thomas Paine's 'Crisis'

In one of the many hard winter during the first years of the American revolution many soldiers had already begun to lose hope in any chance of victory. Then came Thomas Paine while he isn't the only reason why the soldiers recuperated he definitely played a big part. In the first article of the crisis Paine's use Ethos, logos, and Pathos to persuade and strengthen the soldiers to march on. First utilizing Pathos to capture the audience's attention and stirring their emotions. He then establishes a great Ethos with his war stories and supported it with logos of the country's current socio economic situation. All the appeal use by Paine in this article play a very significant role in constructing his well thought out argument. The way Paine uses emotion such as patriotism, anger, and optimism to effectively persuade the soldiers to stand for their country. As Humphrey said" What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it"( ) . Paine shared the same sentiment as Humphrey. In his article Paine mentioned "summer soldier" and "sunshine patriots" painting them in negative light compared to those who stood firm and the praise they deserved (para.1) . This implies a certain shame to all those soldiers that had thoughts on giving up on the fight just …show more content…
He brilliantly connects all these rhetorical strategies first by captivating his audience and putting them in the same empathetic umbrella. To continue giving them a purpose and a common adversary that with the power of god they can overcome. Thomas Paine use pathos significance goes to near extreme length in effectively convincing his audience to stand and fight for their country not just because times are tough but because after their victory they can only go up from