Rhetorical Analysis of the Virginia Convention

Virginia Convention - Patrick Henry

The famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech was given by Patrick Henry, a representative in the Virginia Convention. The main purpose of the speech was to convince the colonists to be ready to go to war with the British.

I think Patrick Henry wrote this speech because he could predict what America would be like if they continued to let Britain occupy and control the country in the way that they did. What the piece basically says is that the British are already here. Patrick Henry asks what it will take for America to wake up and smell the roses. Britain has already laughed at the country’s various attempts to petition. He asks if the British soldiers need to be in complete control before we realize what is happening and are too late.

Patrick Henry establishes credibility in the first part of the piece by saying that he is a patriot and that we all see things in different “lights.” In the second and third parts of the speech he uses Pathos to affect peoples’ emotions. He does this by stating that it is human nature to look towards the illusions of hope and to turn one’s back on the painful truth. He also asks questions that seem to make a man question if he is a true patriot. Near the end of the speech he uses Pathos again by saying that God determines the destinies of nations and that the vigilant, the active, and the brave fight the battles that must be fought.