Patrick Henry Ethos In Speech To The Virginia Convention

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Patrick Henry’s Speech In Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry persuades loyalists to fight England through several powerful main rhetorical devices; Allusion, pathos, ethos, and logos. Overall, Patrick Henry tried to influence his audience with these devices by using examples that demonstrate their effectiveness on his listeners. He uses pathos to appeal to their emotions, allusion to refer to past events and logos to give factual evidence. One of the first devices Patrick Henry uses to convince the colonists to confront their enemy is allusion. In fact, he states “Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss” (264). Henry meant that in order for the colonists to achieve their goal they have to make sacrifices. This reminded the colonists of the New Testament, their religion, and how they were getting treated. The second example of allusion …show more content…
"...but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" (266).This shows ethos because he is showing his own belief which is that he would rather stand up for his country and fight for it's people, yet he's establishing his place amongst the people of the country and since he is one of them he is more likely to prove his point and gain the trust and respect of the people in his fight for liberty. Patrick Henry also uses logos to show logic. An example of this is when he says “Are fleets and armies necessary to work of a love and reconciliation, have we shown ourselves so unwilling…” (264). He was saying that they were so unwilling to progress because of all the intolerable acts. Their army was just not strong enough. Although a majority of the colonists did not want to battle against England, Patrick Henry persuaded them to, through the use of rhetorical devices. He showed emotion and facts. He offered them his words of encouragement. This is why “Speech to the Virginia Convention” was so famous. His determination is what caused progress to move