Comparative Speech Analysis - Essay Example

Comparative Speech Analysis The two speakers who would be compared in the following paper are HillaryClinton and Barack Obama. Both the speakers have a distinct style of speaking and due to their position in the current politics of the U.S., both the speakers have given a number of speeches at a number of different events. Hillary Clinton gave a speech in 2008 at Democratic National Convention and her style of speech would be analyzed on the basis of that speech. This speech was chosen to be analyzed because it is persuasive in nature.

A persuasive speech requires comprehensive detail because the speaker needs to sell his opinion to the listeners. There needs to be a lot of rationalization in a persuasive speech. The main purpose behind a persuasive speech is to get the opinions of the speaker to the listeners with enough rationalization so that the listeners do not raise any questions. The quality of the introduction of the speech by Hillary Clinton is very convincing. The speaker thanks her supporters at the start of the speech and says that she is proud to be the senator and proud to be the supporter of the President.

She delivers each and every word very clearly and distinctly which can be regarded as a very positive attribute of the style of the speaker. The speaker then proceeds by providing rationalization for her current position in the politics. She tries to persuade the listeners that she is grateful for her current position and that she will sincerely perform her duties. The speaker then provides the conditions of health services and education in the U.S. and says that she is determined to make the conditions better.

The speaker then presents the economic conditions of the country and promises that she would work hard to sustain the American dream and to bring the economic strength back. The way she presents all these facts and figures followed by her plans to make the conditions better attract applause from the audience which is a sign that the listeners are paying attention to her words and accepting the claims by the speaker. Therefore, it can be said that the quality of the body of the speech was very convincing too as each fact was presented very clearly followed by the plans of the speaker.

Each point was said very clearly and sufficient rationalization for each point was given to the listeners. This can be regarded as another positive attribute of the speaker’s ability to give a convincing persuasive speech. At the end of the speech, the speaker’s tone became a little aggressive and it emanated the emphasis on all the points that had been delivered in the speech. This is also an attribute of an effective persuasive speech because at the start of the speech, listeners need to be given enough reasons to respond to the speaker and after all the rationalizations are given to the listeners, the speaker can make use of an aggressive tone to end the speech at a high note and to ensure that the listeners remember the points given by the speaker.

The speech by Barack Obama that would be analyzed was given by him in Philadelphia at Constitution Center. The speech was is titled ‘A More Perfect Union’ and it focused on the matters of racism in America and the roles of unity and equality for the progress of America. The quality of introduction was not as remarkable as that given by Hillary Clinton because it sounded a bit too formal. The speaker started the speech by thanking certain persons and directly transitioned towards the main theme of the speech.

Initially the speaker presented the historic facts regarding the independence of America. The speaker condemned the slave trade in the past and said that the independence was not complete because the founders allowed the slave trade to continue. The speaker then provided certain facts that supported the main theme of the speech. The speaker referred to the basic constitution of the United States that provided that all the citizens would be given equal rights. The speaker continued rationalization of his points and enough reasoning was given in order to convince the listeners about the main theme of the speech.

In the middle of the speech, the speaker attracted applause from the listeners which is a sign that the listeners agreed to the points of the speaker. Therefore, it can be said that the body of the speech was of high quality. Each point was expressed very clearly and it was made sure by the speaker that the listeners understand each and every point. The speaker kept the tone constant till the end of the speech and the speech was ended by the speaker at a very strong point which was the summary of the whole speech.

The speaker said that the country would progress only when every citizen is given equal rights and every citizen agrees to work in harmony with the other. Thus, it can be concluded that the speech by Barack Obama was more effective because it presented all the concrete facts in a very convincing manner and the speaker did not need to increase the tone in order to emphasis his points. Works Cited “Obama Speech: ‘A More Perfect Union’”. Online Posting. Youtube, 18 March 2008. Web. 6 December 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU O’hair, Dan; Stewart, Rob; Rubenstein, Hannah. The Essential Guide to Rhetoric. 4th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. “Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) addresses the DNC”. Online Posting. Youtube, 26 August 2008. Web. 6 December 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeFMZ7fpGHY&feature=relmfu