Rhetorical Analysis Of Their Finest Hour By Winston Churchill

Following the collapse of France during World War II, the conditions the Allied powers faced became bleaker by the day. The United Kingdom was standing alone in the face of Germany, and under Hitler’s reign, the German “blitzkrieg” or “lightning war,” a tactic involving bombardment, tanks, and ground troops in quick offense proved too much for many countries. Winston Churchill would be the one to place hope in the hearts of the British people, delivering his “Their Finest Hour” speech on the 18th of June, 1940. Churchill utilized persuasive rhetoric whilst appealing to the people's logic and emotions, to raise morale and spirit in the United Kingdom to fight.

I. The basis of all rhetoric is Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Logos, used to insert logic into a speech; Pathos, used to add an emotional effect; and Ethos, used to convince someone of credibility and character with ethics. In President Donald Trump's inaugural speech, Logos, Ethos, and Pathos is varied but, is not always used in a strong, effective manner.

The famous speech Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation by Franklin D. Roosevelt shows us a vast amount of rhetorical appeals: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to the nation. The speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt shows us the intended audience and the persuasion used in order to change the peoples’ minds to defend our nation. Let’s begin with the Pathos for this particular speech.

In speaking of effective rhetorical persuasion, we must appeal to our target audience in a way that will get them to accept or act upon the point of view we are trying to portray. Aristotle said that we persuade others by three means: (1) by the appeal to their reason (logos); (2) by the appeal to their emotions (pathos); and (3) by the appeal of our personality or character (ethos) (Corbett and Connors 32). When Socrates, an infamous rhetorician, gave his “apology” to his fellow Athenians after being accused of atheism or not believing in the gods and corrupting the youth with similar teachings, he employed all three modes of persuasion to prove his innocence. Despite the

Winston Churchill delivered his speech on May 13, 1940, three days after he became prime minister. In Churchill’s speech he wanted to connect with the audience on an emotional level, so he uses many different examples of the rhetorical device pathos. For example, Churchill’s famous quote “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. By saying this, he wants the people to know that, he will give all that he has and he will give as much effort as he can and that’s all that he can offer them. Another example of pathos in the speech is when Churchill said, “We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering”. By saying this, Churchill uses terms such as “us”, “struggle”, and “suffering” to get to the people and to show that the war cabinet crisis wouldn’t be an easy thing to get though out of the rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos, Churchill uses pathos more

There are many ways to convey a message to readers. Often times authors, speech writers, etc., refer to Aristotle’s three main concepts of rhetoric, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is considered to be the, “credibility,” of the author. Pathos is the idea of, “emotional appeal,” to the audience. Finally, Logos is the translated as the, “logic,” involved when making a point. All forms of rhetoric have at least one of these concepts, while good arguments incorporate a well balanced mixture of the three.

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, created rhetoric in the fifth century. Rhetoric included three categories. They were ethos, pathos, and logos. Churchill used many different types of rhetoric in his speech which was effective in enhancing the SOAPSTone of his speech. There were many rule of threes in his speech, but one significant one is “We must arm. Britain must arm. America must arm” (Churchill, par. 10). The rule of three supports the purpose and subject of the speeches. The specification of America encourages the United States to join them to fight. Additionally, the use of the pronoun “we”, and specification of Britain and America supports the subject of unity between Britain and the United States. Similarly, the use of a rhetorical question, “We are left in no doubt where America conviction and sympathies lie; but will you wait until British freedom and independence have succumbed, and then take up the cause when it is three quarters ruined, yourselves alone?” (Churchill, par. 8) enhanced the purpose and subject even more. The use of alone and inclusion of consequences that could happen if they don’t unite to fight the Nazis made the purpose and subject very clear. It also creates an urgent tone with the use of wait, succumbed, and ruined. In the same way, the alliteration, “But how much harder our toil for every day’s delay” (Churchill, par. 13) make the tone of urgency very clear through

As first stated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, the art of rhetoric in persuasive speaking is based upon the usage of the three key components, logos, ethos and pathos. Logos representing the usage of logic and reasoning within the speech or text, ethos representing the writer or speaker’s credibility and pathos representing how the speaker or author establishes an emotional connection with the audience. In former president Bill Clinton’s 2012 democratic national convention he relies heavily upon Aristotle’s persuasive speaking techniques to help convince the participants of the convention and those watching at home to reelect the nominee of the Democratic Party, current

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are all ways of persuasion used in anything spoken or written by someone with a purpose. The address to Congress on Women's Suffrage uses each of these ways of rhetoric within the excerpt. In the second paragraph, Ethos is used by referring to the Declaration of Independence. Logos is used by using historical evidence such as the Revolution and Abraham Lincoln. Pathos is also expressed by using adjectives to describe our country with emotion.

Throughout history, rhetoric has been used by great orators to persuade a people to believe one thing or take action on another. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, proved that a respectable argument must use ethos, pathos, and logos. Patrick Henry’s “give me liberty” speech is well known to have inspired many people to take up arms against the British and start the American Revolution. He used ethos by proving he would die for his country, saying “give me liberty or give me death,” pathos by explaining how poorly America is treated and how they are seen as inferiors, and also logos by stating all the atrocities Britain had done to America (“Patrick”). These same values must be applied in modern debate to vanquish the other side, and it is in these

In Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address and Henry’s speech in the Virginia Convention; both authors use the rhetorical devices ethos, logos, and pathos. Lincoln’s use of said devices provided a solid, clearly elaborated, and easy to listen to “Address” whilst Henry’s speech strengthened and structured clarification on all issues at hand, bringing the audience literally off of their seats providing for an exciting, powerful, yet bold speech. Patrick Henry’s use of ethos throughout his speech particularizes his views in the end by stating, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” and shows he wants to stand up for his country and its people. Lincoln’s use of ethos most effectively works in his address provides credibility among the highest authority,

In 1588, Queen Elizabeth I delivered a speech to motivate her troops, which were mostly untrained farmers for a battle. In 1940, Winston Churchill, Great Britain's new Prime Minister, delivered his speech to inspire and communicate effectively with the House of Commons. Both these speaker’s speeches are close in similarities; however, they do contain a few differences. The speeches of Queen Elizabeth I and Winston Churchill to their respective audiences are communicated through rhetorical choices to connect with the people, which led them to victory. Queen Elizabeth I’s speech to her troops was more effective in that she appealed to their loyalty to country and God as a path to victory. While Winston Churchill’s speech was successful and

Churchill begins “We Shall Never Surrender” by providing vivid descriptions of the life and environment of war to describe the hardships, then follows up with showing that the strength that the troops had together helped them overcome specific events. He continues to use repetition to emphasize the importance of staying together and not losing hope in order to provide small victories, one at a time. Churchill’s courage to speak up during such a disturbing time helped assist the nations morality by providing hope and encouragement in the bloodshed time of war. When a nation felt defeated Winston Churchill used his powerful voice in “We Shall Never Surrender” to lift the nation’s spirits

In a world of politics, many politicians are involved in negative campaigns and as a result healthy conversation among politicians often lead to a disaster. With the endless political news cycles, rhetoric is essential for politicians to deliver their speeches. Therefore, in this essay, the style and delivery of Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention will be examined. It will be using the three main appeals of Aristotle’s mode of persuasion, the five essential rhetoric elements and the classical canons to analysed the speech and evaluate its effectiveness all of which will contribute to its persuasive power to leave a memorable impression in the minds of the audience.

During the first year of World War II Winston Churchill is recommended by the former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain as his replacement going on to win the election; becoming Prime Minister that following Friday. Before then, Churchill was not a popular person amongst the Members of Parliament due to mistakes made in World War I Nearly all of whom publicly denounced him, some going as far as to publicly mock and heckle his election speeches because of his record of making hasty rash decisions. However, Churchill managed to change the political atmosphere around him with a short, but powerful speech. “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” uses masterful diction, repetition, and structure to keep his address to the assembled group of the House of Lords and Commons brief and informative, while indicating the importance of haste to achieve victory.