Conflicting Perspectives provide diverse and provocative insights
Composers of texts repeatedly have the common aim of persuading the audience into agreement or seek to gain empathy. The deliberate intention of the composer to inflict an incongruous perspective through the use of medium is represented through personalities, events and situations. Particularly, in both Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s infamous 1941 Four Freedoms speech, composer perspectives presented on historical events can be distorted, shaped, and reshaped to uniquely evoke a passionate response in the audience. Subtleties in the presentation of form overt a strong authenticity to text and provide a sustained theatrical license for the composer.
Roosevelt speech was dictated in his small study on the second floor of the Whitehouse on January 1st, 1941. His speech was founded on the four essential human freedoms; freedom of speech, worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These freedoms symbolized America’s war aims and gave hope to a war-wearied people as they now knew they were fighting for freedom.
Accordingly, the four freedoms formed the basis of the world ethical principles found in the universal declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter.
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech are different forms of text, however both serve the common purpose of entertaining and inspiring their contextual audience. Particularly in Roosevelt’s speech, he needed to be an inspiring, rock solid leader as a majority of American’s believed in isolationism and the belief that the United States should continue to stay out of war. However, through the “Four Freedoms”, Roosevelt dictated such convincingl...
... middle of paper ...
...spective was that in support of imperialism and the autocratic ruling power. However, if he had not been influenced by his time and his support of his contemporary ruling power, perhaps this perspective would have been quite different. Contrastingly, Roosevelt presents himself as the resistant, leader in a time of anguish and crisis for his country. Although pressured by the oppressive world in his context, which definitely would have shaped his perspective, he used his situation to form a commune feeling in America and export a strong belief in resilience. Thus the effect of context on composer and therefore perspective can be seen in Roosevelt’s as well as in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Therefore, both texts, while entertaining and inspiring their contextual audience, provide conflicting perspectives that bring diverse and provocative insights to the surface.
Many speeches have shaped the nation we live in today. Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Speech in the Convention” are two of the most prominent speeches that have assisted in the forging of our new nation. The “Speech in the Virginia Convention” serves to encourage those that listened to take arms against the British and fight the injustice being done to them. The “Speech in the Convention” admits to the imperfections of the Constitution but supports its ultimate purpose. Both Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin believe leaders must do away with compromise and lead when it’s best for the people as a whole. However, Patrick discourages any future compromise, while Benjamin Franklin feels that future
Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy as a great president, lives on today through his policies. The Panama Canal now saves ships thousands of miles, and National Parks inspire people to conserve the resources of this earth. His social justice policies keep businesses honest and force them to be fair. But like all humans he had flaws. One of his major weaknesses was he thought anyone who did not agree with him was un-American, and during World War One was suspicious of German Americans. While on state Legislature, he tried to fire a judge based on corruption because he reached a verdict Roosevelt did not agree with. But Roosevelt’s great intelligence, strength, and curiosity outweighed his flaws, and it is not surprise he is considered as one of America’s greatest presidents.
...w mindedness due to war saying “Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” Even Caesar realized he was not a very good political leader, but still continued to lead Rome because he was greedy and wanted it. Overall I believe that Julius Caesar was not a very good leader and also is much worse than the United States president Harry S. Truman.
Both Roosevelt's “Four Freedoms” speech and Kennedy's inauguration speech address expressed human rights and liberty. However, Roosevelt's speech was more focused on defending our freedom. Where on the other hand Kennedy’s was was more about coming together as one, peace, and freedom for all.
President Roosevelt in his inaugural speech first realized the importance of his presidency, the speech and the US. He mentioned that the thing the US nation needs to fear is the fear itself. He further mentioned it as unreasoning, nameless and unjustified terror which constraints and paralyze the efforts needed to make retreat (Davis, 2014). The general purpose of the speech was to lead the nation to make advance against all the odds. The specific purpose of this speech was to communicate the agenda of presidency as this was the first speech by the president.
If we were to follow the four principles we would first need to look at the principle of autonomy
In 1947, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment, which states that no president can be elected to more than two terms in office. Amendments are created and ratified because they are applicable to most of the general public; however, only one man had ever “broken” this new rule. Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as president during some of America’s roughest years: the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, and World War II are just a few big events on the list. The public re-elected Roosevelt to serve four terms as America’s 32nd president, however, his legacy began with his Inaugural Address he delivered to the public in 1933. Throughout the speech he proved his credibility and authority as president, found a common ground with his audience, addressed the nation’s issues, and discussed the decisions he would make to fix them.
Foner, Eric. "Chapter 9." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Brief Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
As the president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt worked hard to provide safe, happy, and affluent life to American people. Many problems such as unemployment, poor banking and systems were caused by the Depression. In order to approach the resumption of the nation, Roosevelt planed to make changes. Some changes took place in the New Deal’s goals between the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address in 1933, his campaign speech at Madison Square Garden in 1936, and his proposal for an Economic Bill of Right in 1944 did effectively bring people better conditions for their life, reformation of their welfare (for vulnerable people), and hope for freedom.
This paper is an analysis of the inaugural address of the former president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). We will focus on the main historical events that were happening, and how he addressed those issues in his speech. In his speech he used appeals to grow closer to the crowd he was speaking too. We will state the quotes he used and announce what kind of appeal that it is from. FDR uses words and phrases to pull the crowd in and I will discuss the effects of those words and what they had on the crowd. Finally we will talk about the overall quality and effectiveness of the speech and how it was such a great speech used.
Composers use various rhetorical strategies to tell a story and inspire people to join a strike or a union. They also help build a powerful movement. Composers use expression that, at times may be insulting, a bit of exaggeration and the glory of the workers from the unions.
The central theme of Act III, Scene ii of “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare is the power of rhetoric because it shows the effect of two funeral orators’ on the crowd. In this scene, Antony and Brutus have similar purpose in talking to the public, which is to gain the support of the Plebeians according to their conflicting views about Caesar’s assassination. This essay focuses on comparing the orations of the two speakers in this part of the play according to Aristotle’s rhetoric system. According to Aristotle’s writings, Antony’s speech is more persuasive than Brutus’ speech, because he is able to provide logical, emotional and ethical appeals to his audience. Firstly, in comparison to Brutus’ logic, Antony provides more evidence to prove that Caesar was not ambitious. Secondly, Antony’s emotional acts and speech moved his audience more than Brutus. Finally, Antony acts more noble than Brutus does.
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville writes that, “equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived” in America. With the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln rededicates America to this fundamental creed, holding the Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal” as the nation’s ideological foundation. Lincoln’s speech evokes Pericles’s Funeral Oration, which similarly flaunts equality as the bedrock of Athens. By linking the two speeches and states, Lincoln expands America’s national duty in demanding that the country provide an example to the world like Athens. Lincoln uses this duty as a reason to continue the war effort, following Pericles’s example of protreptikon. Most importantly, the linkage draws a contrast between the two states: Athenian exceptionalism is based on realized cultural values, while Lincoln’s American exceptionalism is purely doctrinal. In comparing the two, Lincoln displays that America must follow through on past intentions in order to realize its greatness.
Composers throughout various zeitgeists are linked by different representations of universal human concerns, and their texts simultaneously embody certain values and agendas individual to themselves. An exploration of Shakespeare’s King Richard III (1592) and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard (1996) allows for a greater understanding of the composer’s respective contexts, along with their intended agendas, through the lens of their own societal values and concerns. The manipulation of Richard III’s persona, whether by authorial adaptation of historical sources related to his character, or through the differing views of Richards motives, are universal concepts, that when studied in relation to the differing time periods, accentuates the context and our understanding of recurrent aspects of the human experience.
Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Chelsea House Publisher; Connecticut, New York, & Pennsylvania. 1988, Pg. #33 - 36