Lord Chesterfield Analysis

Parents are almost always among the most influential people in a person’s life. They often contribute the most to their children’s lives by shaping them into individuals who share beliefs and attitudes akin to their guardians. In his letter of advice written to his faraway son, Lord Chesterfield reveals his own personal values that he attempts to pass on through the use of figurative language, irony, and parallel structure. Through these means he tries to restrain his son from his son from his pursuit of pleasure in favor of the pursuit of knowledge and scholastic success.

Finally, Lord Chesterfield frequently employs parallel structure in his letter to emphasize certain points he wishes his son to take away. These salient points are presented by repetition of sentences and clause starting with “I know” and “I mean.” He opens his letter by assuring his son, “ I know how unwelcome advice generally is … I only mean to advise as a friend, and an indulgent one too: and do not apprehend that I mean to check your pleasures; of which, on the contrary, I only desire to be the guide, not the censor.” He later adds, “I mean, for the sake of doing right, and out of affection and gratitude to me.” The parallel structure combines Lord Chesterfield’s assurances of righteous intentions to his somewhat subtle shaming of his son into doing what is just. Furthermore, he uses parallelism when he rhetorically inquires, “can there be a greater pleasure than to be …show more content…
Though Lord Chesterfield’s son was far away and seemingly out of his power to affect, his letter certainly engendered a response with its rhetorical strategies of Like any caring and concerning parent, Lord Chesterfield made it fairly explicit to his frivolous son that he should return to his scholastic pathway or confront the ignominy of being a