Literary Devices Used In 'Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death' By Patrick Henry's Speech
1044 Words5 Pages
On March 23, 1775, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” was heard all throughout St. John 's Church. These famous words were not only from a great speaker looking to have his voice heard, but the words truly had an everlasting impact on freedom’s history. In the speech, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” by Patrick Henry, he used figurative languages such as allusions, parallelism, and biblical references to bring his speech to life. These examples are just a few ways that Henry used literary devices, to create emotion and realism. In this specific piece of literature, qualities like patriotism and individualism are exceedingly prominent, this all being due to Henry’s use of literary devices.
In the first sentence, Henry uses ethos to articulate how he is patriotic to his home, but he occupies diverse views compared to his audience, which shows his individualism. Throughout the speech, Henry uses words such as “ourselves, and we” to exhibit that he is still with the audience- not against them. When Henry said, "Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself guilty of treason towards my own country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings” (1). He is saying that this is what he entails to achieve for his God. This shows that Henry is patriotic, yet still his own character.
Henry is trying to grant the audience a diverse viewpoint, rather than discrediting their