Adolf Hitler: The Power of Rhetoric

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Adolf Hitler. When a person hears his name, not many good things will come to their head. However Hitler did possess one amazing quality that led to him be one of the most powerful men on earth: the ability to influence others through his rhetoric. Hitler used his speaking ability to take over a country in their time of need and lead them to infamy. The ways Hitler did this was by connecting with his audience, flamboyant motions, variation in pitch, using his charisma, and working his audience up before giving a speech.
Hitler used repetition throughout his speeches to capture the audiences attention. Repetition helps the audience become more comfortable with new ideas because after hearing the same thing over and over, the audience will find it less intimidating ("Analyzing"). For example, when a person hears a new song they may not like it at first. However once they listen to it more, they will feel more comfortable with it and may end up loving the song. Also, people learn new things faster through repetition. Chants, prayers, and dances are based on patterns that are repeated over and over making the human learn them faster and understand them better ("Analyzing"). The power of repetition in a speech can also have a huge impact on it's audience.
There were two ways Hitler used repetition in his speeches. First was by repeating slogans. Hitler repeated slogans as a way of advertising ("Analyzing"). By repeating these slogans, the audience will "become saturated and remember the message without conscious effort ("Analyzing"). The second way Hitler used repetition was by using "we" and "they" to distinguish the difference between German and the rest of the world. In Hitler's Victory Will be ours speech, Hitler said "the...

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...nd tempo of his speech to grew his audience into his speech. Finally, Hitler used multiple methods to work his audience up before delivering a speech. These points helped Hitler become one of the most successful men on the planet. No one can clearly understand the power of rhetoric until they realize how Hitler used his rhetoric to take over his country with a thought of taking over the world.

Works Cited

"Analyzing Rhetorics." diplomacy.org. Diplo, ND. Web. 7 May 2014
Forman, James D. "Nazism." New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1978. Print.
"Hitler Reichstag Speech Roosevelt." YouTube.com. YouTube, LLC. 16 Mar 2011. Web. 10 May 2014.
Mott, Patrick. "The Splendid Gesture." toastmaster.org. Toastmasters International, Feb 2008. Web. 7 May 2014.
"There's a Message in Your Voice." totalcommunicator.com. The Total Communicator, Summer 2004. Web. 8 May 2014.

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