In Saint Crispin’s Day speech from William Shakespeare’s Henry V, the character of King Henry shifts from an inspiring tone to an encouraging tone using parallel structure, pathos, and imagery creating one of the greatest speeches in literature.
The character of King Henry begins his speech by sharing his own point of view on the oncoming battle. The king says, “…I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost”. He goes on to demonstrate parallel structure by repeating the previous sentence structure. King Henry says, “It yearns me not if men my garments wear; such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive”. He uses this parallel structure to share that he values honor and that this is why he is fighting. In fighting alongside him, King Henry’s troops would share this great honor.
King Henry’s uses pathos to further rally his men. He says, “…he which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart…we would not die in that man’s company that fears his fellowship to die with us”. This hypothetical man who wishes to leave appeals to the anger and resentment soldiers often feel towards cowards and deserters. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, King Henry appeals to his men’s feelings of comradery when he uses the phrase “we band of brothers”. The pathos King
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Henry uses bolsters his soldiers’ pride and encourage them to fight. King Henry also uses an insight into the futures of his men to rouse them.
He says, “He that shall live this day… will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours and say ‘To-morrow is saint Crispian’. Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day’”. This imagery of a proud man basking in glory every year for the rest of his life uplifts the spirits of the king’s men. By the time King Henry says the last line of his speech England’s soldiers are read to march into battle, possibly to their deaths, and fight for their honor. They are also fighting for their beloved
king. William Shakespeare uses parallel structure, pathos, and imagery to craft a potent and moving speech. King Henry’s words touch his men’s hearts and inspire them to fight. His words also inspire all those who read them or heart them being spoken on a stage. The speech’s themes of pride, honor, and courage are still relevant today even to those who are not about to ride off into battle. It is for these reasons that the Saint Crispin’s Day speech from King Henry V is a timeless masterpiece.
Hal’s remark to his father indicates a now strong, independent mind, predicting that Douglas and Hotspur will not accept Henry’s offer because of their love for fighting. Henry’s reply in turn indicates a change in attitude towards his son, a newfound respect. Acknowledging Hal’s prediction, the king orders preparations to begin, and we see he has his own set of solid moral values: knowing that their ‘cause is just’ helps him to reconcile with his highly honourable conscience that there is indeed cause for war. Still maintained is the conflict between the very format of the text, with Hal and Henry’s conversation held in formal verse typical of the court world, in which Hal is now firmly embedded. Falstaff, however, sustains his equally typical prose speech, which indicates to the audience the enduring division between the court and tavern worlds.
At the Virginia convention in 1775 Patrick Henry spoke out anonymously about standing up to the British monarchy and gaining independence. His simple use of language and emotionally captivating passages inspired many to fight for a republic. Persuading the devout and loyal colonies to pull away from their mother country took courage.
The first appeal that Henry uses in his speech is ethos which appeals to ethics. Evidence from the text is, “fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country” (lines 13-14). This shoes that God has credibility. It also shows that you need to respect God over Britain. The next piece of evidence that I found in the speech is whenever the text said, “…and of an act of disloyalty towards the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings” (lines 16-17). This is saying that you should respect God above man. That is two ways how Henry used the ethical appeal, ethos.
Patrick Henry's Famous Speech Give me liberty or give me death. These famous words were uttered by Patrick Henry on March 23, 1775, as a conclusion to his speech delivered to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Within his speech, he uses the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) to convey a feeling of urgency toward the changes occurring in policy within the Americas implemented by the British government. He cleverly uses these appeals to disrupt the paradigm that Great Britain is going to let the American people have any liberty. The purpose of this speech is to gain support for a freedom movement from the British government.
In the play Henry V written by Shakespeare. Henry was presented as the ideal Christian king. His mercy, wisdom, and other characteristics demonstrated the behavior of a Christian king. Yet at the same time he is shown to be man like any other. The way he behaves in his past is just like an ordinary man. But in Henry’s own mind he describes himself as “the mirror of all Christian kings” and also a “true lover of the holly church.
Henry excites fear by stating he is passionately ready to sacrifice for his country. This play towards pathos, or appealing to the audience’s emotions, is an effective way of trying to convince the House to go to war against Britain. This pathos, combined with the logic of Henry’s speech, makes for a convincing argument. Logically taking the House step by step from stating that because he has an outlook on their situation, he should express it to them, to stating his argument before the House, to saying that lacking freedom is worse than death, then taking it full circle pronouncing he would prefer to be “give[n] death” then to have his freedom taken away by the British.
Henry is somewhat naïve, he dreams of glory, but doesn't think much of the duty that follows. Rather than a sense of patriotism, it is clear to the reader that Henry goals seem a little different, he wants praise and adulation. "On the way to Washington, the regiment was fed and caressed for station after station until the youth beloved
For Patrick Henry, there was no compromise, and while historians still argue over the legitimacy of his speech, the impact it had was nothing short of revolutionary. His ability to craft a such carefully organized speech, embroiled with effective rhetoric places him at the forefront of American orators.
The key feature that Henry uses is that he never mentions the word 'lose.' Since that is a negative expression. Soon after he talks about his side winning, 'and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honour.' This signifies that if they win the battle and live, Henry's soldiers will have extra honour because they had fewer men to begin with. Within Henry's sentence there is a lot of rhythm and balance.
When speaking to the men, King Henry used a lot of repetition in his phrases of certain words. In doing so, the repetition was used as a great device for persuasion. If there were any people who were thinking of abandoning the cause, some of their minds were changed because of how Henry would repeat key words. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” Repeating the word “we” at the beginning of each clause emphasized the concept of togetherness. When being a part of something with a group, the emotions felt by the individual is further solidified by the group. Therefore, when calling the nobles a “band of brothers” and as “we” Henry manipulates the noble men’s emotions as to sway in favour of their situation and to stay and fight. “He which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made.” The repetition of the pronouns him/his/he and the pronouns referring to a cowardice persona emphasizes the ideal of being courageous vs being a coward. Being a coward was considered one of the worst things to be. This persuades the nobles mentality to (during the era) to be men and to not coward in fear of death. Even in the real world, this mentality existed due to the history of the roman empire and the english defeating them. The glory of war was a very strong form of emotional unification. At the same time, it plays to the men’s stereotypical masculinity. All the repetition also ties into some other Shakespearean
King Henry IV is disappointed that his oldest son has become so consumed by tavern life, and his sense of dissatisfaction leaves him in search of substitutes. The actions of Hotspur and Hal are juxtaposed such that before Bolingbroke lays what his son has become and what he could have been. Following the military success of Hotspur against Douglas, The King laments his son’s lackings in his exchange with Westmoreland: “Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin / In envy that my Lord Northumberland / Should be the father to so blest a son, / A son who is the theme of honour's tongue; / Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant; / Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride: / Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him, / See riot...
Queen Elizabeth I uses pathos to appeal to soldiers through their emotions by reminding them that she is on the field with them to die for her subjects (them), just as she is asking them to die for her. She is not on the battlefield with them for her own amusement; the Queen is determined to “live or die amongst you all, to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom” and this appeals to the soldiers’ sense of duty.
Through high moral character Henry established credibility with the audience through creating a setting that aroused feelings in the people at the convention in order to convince them they had to fight for more than just peace. The goal Henry had when he spoke about war was to be honest with the crowd and point out that they needed to do something now or they would lose not just what he loved, but what they also loved. Henry said “If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending.and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!”. In this quote, the tactic of ethics is apparent in that Henry wanted to achieve a personal level of connection with the audience and establish his credibility. By relating losing the war it also meant the loss of their feelings of comfort and contentment from the privileges they had worked hard on to achieve.
Patrick Henry helped convince the Americans to fight Great Britain for their freedom. Henry spoke to the Americans about fighting for liberty even though it was illegal to speak publicly against their current government. In paragraph 10, he states “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. This sentence shows how much Henry wants freedom for America. He is willing to die instead of being tyrannized by the British.
In Henry IV, part 1 each character's individual conception of the abstract notion of ‘honor’ effectively defines them. Falstaff elucidates his views about the concept of ‘honor’ as the troops assemble for battle at Shrewsbury: