Dramatic appeal comparison in "Sinners in the hands of an angry god" and " Speech in the Virginia Convention"

Essay by Clayton9821High School, 11th gradeA+, January 2005

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Dramatic Appeal In Two Famous Speeches

"We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!" Emotional and logical appeal plays a great part in the "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" and the "Speech in the Virginia convention". The emotions in both of these speeches bring them to life by the use of repetition, rhetorical questions, and imagery. Patrick Henry and Jonathan Edwards both apply similar persuasive techniques, but they differ in the type of appeal to their audiences.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" uses repetition, rhetorical questions, and imagery to create a state of panic and fear. "The pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow" shows the repetition emphasizes the reality feel. It leaves fear in the hearts of sinners. "Who knows the power of God's anger"? is a rhetorical question that belittles the Puritans" knowledge of a revengeful God.

This is another great rhetorical question in this speech because it leaves the audience wondering the answer to it. Rhetorical questions serve as two purposes; first to communicate and second to persuade the audience. It makes the audience consider the idea with little time to adopt their own opinion. Jonathan Edwards asks a lot of rhetorical questions to only make hell seem worse. Edwards also uses a lot of imagery to target the senses. One good quote he

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uses is "The glittering sword is whet ..." This quote suggests that the sword is razor sharp and ready to take its next sinful victim. The depth of his imagery in Edwards speech is unique and unlike any others.

In comparison to Jonathan Edward's speech, Patrick Henry's persuasive speech also uses repetition, rhetorical...