Patrick Henry\'s Speech to the Second Virginia Convention PDF

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Lecture notes on Patrick Henry's speech...

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Colonial Literature ! ! Tension between: ! Politics The Enlightenment - questioning former institutions ! " " " - emergence of industrial rights! " " " - John Locke! Religion The Great Awakening - attempt to return to religious orthodox (not going to work well) ! " (begins to fuel revolts) ! !

Patrick Henry's "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention" ("Give me Liberty of Give me Death") ! Timeline: Dec. 1773 - Boston Tea Party - reaction against taxation ! March 1775 - Henry's speech - speaks right after a person gives a speech on why not to use aggression ! April 1775 - "shot heard 'round the world" (Lexington, Massachusetts) ! January 1776 - Paine "the Crisis" series of pamphlets. ! July 1776 - Time of the Declaration of Independence ! 1783 - British Surrender ! Patrick Henry's "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention" ("Give me Liberty of Give me Death") Patrick Henry (1736-1799) • His speech uses persuasive techniques ! ◦ 1) Loaded Language - words that evoke strong emotions or feelings.! ◦ 2) Rhetorical Questions - looking for people to have an effect on it, not looking for people to answer back out loud. ! ◦ 3) Literary Allusions - Biblical and Greek Allusions to the sirens of mermaids ! ! ! How does he use: (He uses loaded language - "lying supinely... hugging the delusive (can't really capture it) phantom of hope. (intangible) ! • Ethos (sense of authority) - says he wants to know the whole truth of their situation - the worst and provide for action. He is willing to take responsibility for whatever the consequences may be. He says that God never turns his back and is on their side. Beginning - Convention and the worthy gentlemen who spoke before. ! • Pathos (emotion) - Some of the rhetorical questions: "is it that insidious smile with which our petitions has been lately recieded. ! • Logos (logic) - Are fleets and armies necessary to show "friendship" (signs of marshal (military)).! " " " - "Shall we do nothing but cling to hope and let them walk all over us?"! ! Freedom vs. Slavery - has a lot of references about chains. !

! Almost predicts of outbreak of war turns out to be almost right. ! ! 1) Loaded Language - "lying supinely"! " " " " " hugging the delusive phantom of hope"! 2) "When shall we be stronger?" - Rhetorical questions! 3) Allusions - Biblical - "betrayed by a kiss" ! " " " " - "I have by one lamp to guide my feet" - Psalms! " " " " - Mark 8:18 "eyes but cannot see"! " " - Greek - "song of the siren" ! (This shows that the audience is educated and religious - we can tell because they can understand his references) ! ! Repetitive grammatical structure Emphasis! We have petitioned! " "supplicated! " "prostrated! Parallelism...