Edwards Essay

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“How awful it is for that person which suffers this great wrath and infinite misery!”(Edwards 89-90). This is the best example of Edwards doing what he does best in his sermons; using literary devices to scare people. Why would anyone do this? Well, he uses fear for persuasion. How he does this is carefully and delicately layered in his words. Edwards uses loaded language, vivid imagery, and specific types of sentences in order to scare his audience into becoming better Puritans.
Edwards uses his “loaded language” in a number of examples, though this one stands out: “…and you shall suffer without any hope of deliverance, any rest, any mitigation to this wrath.” (Edwards 79-80) This example stands out since you can easily see the levels of words that increasingly get stronger, and therefore inspire stronger emotions (specifically in this example, fear). Because higher level words inspire stronger emotions when they are heard or read, Edwards uses this to his advantage by using higher words to create fear among his audience. Fear is used as means of persuasion from the use of loaded language.
Another way Edwards instills fear in his audience is by using descriptive imagery. The best example of his use of imagery is this metaphor: “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, to burn it asunder…” (Edwards 70-71). Breaking this down, a very vivid image is displayed to the audience, of being held by a thread surrounded by flames. Images similar to this one tend to make people feel very uncomfortable, because they feel a lack of power in a situation like that. The Puritan religion (as well as most religions) is founded on the idea of giving in to a higher power. Th...

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...ersuasion to convert. Finally, the two other literary devices are used here as well, making this sentence serve as the ultimate example of Edwards persuasive abilities.
In summarization, Edwards has shown in history that he is very convincing to others about his opinions and ideas. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is one of the best examples of this, because all the literary devices he uses, and all of the means of persuasion, are very easily detected by the audience, and make it very easy for the audience to become afraid, and take Edwards’s side in order to feel safe. Edwards’s use of loaded language, vivid imagery, and sentence style all contribute to conveying the ideas of fear in the audience. These ideas of fear persuade the audience to become better Puritans, or to convert altogether.

Works Cited

Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

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