American Cultural Mythologies - Essay Example

Rhetorical strategies majorly take the form of questions. Their speeches entailed logos, ethos and pathos in their rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical questions do not necessarily require an answer from the audience. They just offer a platform of sharpening and cognitive reflections of the audience. Audiences ponder on the implications of the questions and detect the bias presented by the author or presenter. Therefore, the answers of the questions are already disseminated by the course of the speech.

The stand of the author or presenter produces the answer to a rhetorical question. This is an apparent implication that the answers of the questions are already set by the authors and presenters of the speech. This is an evident phenomenon in the speeches by Frederick, Truth and Jefferson. Regardless of the position of the audience, the answer of the rhetorical question remains static during the speech. Therefore, this appeals to the wits of the audience and it possesses a substantial convincing power.

Audiences mostly take the positions of the author or presenter due to the conveyance of the bias through the rhetorical strategies. In this case, authors and presenters have the liberty of capitalize on rhetorical strategies to convey a message to the audience. Rhetorical strategies have a basic role of persuading the audience. . In this case, his speech starts with a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a strategy that has an immense contribution to the persuasive power of the speech.

His speech has the title “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” Definitely, this qualifies to be a rhetorical question. It does not require an immediate answer from the audience. It also spells the stand of the author or presenter vividly. Therefore, the answer for this question is already set. It spells a definite feeling within the slaves upon the existence of the 4th July date. Ideal expectations of the slaves are major consequences of this day’s existence (Douglass, 7). Frederick appeals to the cognitive reflections of his audience during his presentation of the speech.

Ethos is an evident rhetorical strategy in this speech. This speech entails a substantial ethical appeal towards the audience. Through the ethical appeal, Frederick gains a convincing capacity to the audience of his speech. Society has a high tendency to listen and adopt ideas from trustworthy icons. In this case, Frederick’s speech gains much persuasion to the audience due to the ethos technique. Pathos is a rhetorical technique that appeals to emotions of the audience. Frederick uses this rhetorical technique to facilitate his persuasive capacity to his audience.

The title of the speech appeals to the emotions of the audience (Douglass, 4). All rhetorical questions also have a substantial emotional appeal, and therefore they facilitate the persuasiveness of the speech. Frederick appeals to the emotions of the audience through the exploration of historical experiences of America’s forefathers (Douglass, 7). By revealing their painful encounters, he convinces his audience to retain their historical glory. Logos