A Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Virginia Convention' By Patrick Henry

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In the speech, "The Virginia Convention," Patrick Henry set out to convince the Virginia delegates that the war with England was inevitable and the more they delayed action to do something, the more difficult the war would be to conquer. Patrick Henry uses the art of persuasion to win over his audience. In the essay, “The Crisis, No. 1,” Paine set out to allure every colony they should assemble together and dispute for freedom. His goal was to convince the colonists that the slave driver England had grasped them in the palm of her had and molded the colonists into slaves. Both Paine and Henry establish effective use of certain appeals giving the speech a quality of concrete wholeness.

The appeal of solid affects adds contribution of Henry's address to convince the people of Virginia that fighting or slavery are the only possible outcomes of their meeting. He uses this as a distress factor in persuading the people who are fighting for this freedom is the only way to maintain their own lasting freedom. These logical facts are used mainly in the third and fourth paragraphs and he also ends his affirmation with questions. "Are fleets and armies necessary to work a love and reconciliation?" asks Henry of the targeted audience. This …show more content…
This motivates Henry is motivated to prove to the opposing side by explaining how their view on things is natural, however their perspective is inaccurate. “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts,” this contorts the thoughts of the opposing sides into revealing that their way of thinking is detrimental. This technique used, something in which Paine generously lacks, allows him to have a grander impact on his targeted audience, therefore making his argument being more
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