Ashton Evans
Dr. Susan Klein
AP English III
17 September 2014
Rough Draft
Patrick Henry gave his speech in 1775, when the American colonists and the Britians were heading for war. Henry uses metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions to get the attention of the people he is addressing. He makes sure to use things that the people around him will understand, so they will know the urgency of the situation. Henry’s reason for this speech was to show the people around him how serious he was about the war that was about to happen.
Henry uses a metaphor of a great storm happening and refers to it twice throughout his speech. The first time he uses the metaphor, he says ”We have done...now coming on.” This metaphor shows how the colonist had done everything they could have done to avoid war the british but they were still coming to fight no matter what. No matter how ready or prepared the colonists were the british were going to come and attack. The second metaphor,”The next gale...resounding arms!” to get the point across about the british coming. The storm was coming whether the colonist wanted to or not.
When Henry uses the allusion of the Judas, it makes the people he is addressing realize how much betrayal they are encountering. In the story of Judas, Judas tells the Roman soldiers that he is going to kiss the cheek of Jesus so they know which one to kill. Judas betrayed Jesus, and the colonists were being betrayed by the british. The british In his other allusion Henry references Homers odyssey. In the odyssey it talks about a ringing bell that leads people to a
beast to be killed. It makes the audience think about how the british are ringing a bell and they are going to be lured in to be defeated at war. Henry is trying to warn his fellow colonists, before they mess up and get killed at war.
Throughout his speech
