Rhetorical Analysis Of Patrick Henry Speech

In Patrick Henry’s speech, Speech in the Virginia Convention, he tries to persuade the readers in many ways that there is an error in their system and they need to fix that immediately. Their error is that they rely on Britain too much and they need to fix their own problems. The people of America keeps on sending petition and letters to the British government so they can fix it, but all the letters and petition sent were all ignored. In this speech, Patrick Henry uses many techniques to persuade the readers and the people of America that it is their turn to choose what will happen. The people can either choose to rely on Britain and get nothing in return or fight back to get their freedom. Some of these techniques Henry uses are the rhetorical questions, appeal to logos, and appeal to ethos. First of all, Patrick Henry uses many rhetorical questions to make the readers think about what they would do and how they would feel. One of the many rhetorical questions is when Henry states “Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?...Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation?” (Henry 170). By asking these questions, he makes the reader produce many strong emotions that will …show more content…
Using logical appeals, he makes the reader rely on the argument more because it shows real facts and that the evidence is credible. When Henry states “Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne…”, he provides evidence that all the petitions they were sending were in vain and the results were the same every time (Henry 170). He proved that no matter how many petitions they send, none of them will “get through” so they should act first to resolve their own problems than waiting for an