Extended Rhetorical Devices In Patrick Henry's Speech

It had to be the perfect speech. Patrick Henry, the 29 year-old, stood up in front of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and delivered one of the most impactful speeches of his time. He had to convince the House that they needed to go to war with Britain because of the taxes and treatment they receive from them. He also wanted to inspire the colonists not to be afraid to stand up and fight for what they believe in. His tone switches throughout the speech, going from a very academic and scholarly tone when speaking to the President and the House, to a pressing and demanding tone toward the colonists to stand up and fight, and finally excitement to go and fight against Britain. To successfully convince these people to go to war, Henry uses a combination of logos, pathos, ethos, along with extended metaphors and number of other convincing rhetorical devices. He starts off by addressing the president himself, and we continue to see him do this a few times …show more content…
He progresses the metaphor by saying that the chains of slavery are “sent over to bind and rivet upon those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging”, then questions the president for just arguing with them the past ten years, and doing nothing else. This metaphor is now showing that the colonies are the slaves to Britain. They have been creating these chains for so long, and are ready to shackle the colonists up and use them as their slaves. This vivid imagery evokes hatred toward the British people, and was a very effective language to use, and this metaphor continues to the final part of the speech as well. The rest of the paragraph is made up of Henry using highly academic language to describe reasons why the colonists to hate Britain. This gets them fired up, and he ends the paragraph with extreme intensity saying that the colonists “must fight”, and he repeats that