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Jessica Ruble
Kyle King
English 137 H
27 September 2013
Give Me Rhetoric or Give Me Death
Many have heard the antithesis in Patrick Henry’s famous line, “Give me liberty, or give
me death!” but not many realize that Henry’s use of antithesis is not solely in the last line of his
speech. The charged speech delivered at the Virginia Convention on May 23, 1775, is, in fact,
riddled with antithesis, among other rhetorical devices. By presenting two polar opposite
scenarios, Henry challenges his audience to think about their situation, and take action against
the great evil that is Great Britain.
Patrick Henry’s speech is one that grows in passion as it progresses. In the beginning of
his speech, Henry appeals to logos and ethos, to establish himself as a worthy rhetor when he
opens up his speech with the words, “No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism....
But different men often see the same subject in different lights.” By saying this, he first clarifies
that he is a patriotic man, not unlike his audience in the Virginia Convention, and attempts not to
offend his audience with any differing views his speech may present. He goes on to say that he
does not mean any disrespect as he speaks his beliefs freely, but instead his speech is his moral
responsibility to his country and to God, and therefore he must speak. Henry uses kairos to take
advantage of the “awful moment” in the colonies at the time to introduce his first antithesis when
he says, “I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery.” Henry hints (and
not subtly) that the rule that Great Britain has over the colonies has become tyrannical, and
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encourages his audience to listen to his side of the debate because “it is the only way that [they]
can hope to arrive at the truth.”
This truth, says Henry, is essential to know, no matter the cost. He goes on to increase the
emotional appeals of his speech when he calls his audience not to shut their eyes against this
truth, however painful, because false hope will “[transform them] into beasts.” By comparing
these lies to the “song of that siren”, Henry creates an allusion to Greek mythology by comparing
Great Britain to tempting sea nymphs that draw sailors in with a beautiful song of fantasies only
to kill them. This establishes pathos to open the eyes of Henry’s audience to the “truth” that is
right in front of them. This leads into another use of antithesis when Henry pleads his audience
not to be part of the numbers who “having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not”. This
antithesis makes a generalization that people who do not agree with Henry do not use their
sensory organs, and while it may not be true, it is still successful in motivating listeners to
believe Henry’s claims.
Patrick Henry’s next antithesis is more vague, but arguably more powerful than his
previous antitheses. Henry introduces it with an appeal to logos: “I have but one lamp by which
my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” Henry looks to the betrayals and failed
attempts at peace in the past to make assertions about the future of the colonies. Henry tells his
audience not to be deceived by Great Britain’s false promises or bullied by Great Britain’s lack
of challengers. He even compares Great Britain to Judas Iscariot, the infamous betrayer of Jesus,
when he tells his peers to “[s]uffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.” Because the
colonies were so revolved around religion, this allusion is extremely successful in making an
enemy of Great Britain.
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Now that the enemy has been clearly established, Henry introduces a series of rhetorical
questions aimed to stimulate his audience such as: “Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been
trying that for the last ten years.” The rhetorical questions prompt the audience to connect the
issues that Henry is calling to light to their own lives. There is a high chance of these
connections because the attendees called the very convention Henry is speaking at to debate
solutions to the problems that Henry is calling to light; once made, these connections will give
Henry more credibility. Henry then goes on to explain even more terms the colonies have
exhausted by saying, “[w]e have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have petitioned.”
Through this repetition of every attempt at peace that the colonies tried in the past, Henry
conveys the tedious and unsuccessful peaceful measures that the colonies have taken in the past.
Logically, the next step must be “the storm which is now coming on.” This drawn-out antithesis
of past and future functions as Henry’s transition to his stance on the actions that the colonies
must take.
In the climax of the speech, Henry issues a simple but debilitating hook: “There is no
longer any room for hope.” Henry calls for his audience to reject the false hope that has blinded
them so that they can realize the means to freedom. And these means require that “[they] must
fight! I repeat it, sir, [they] must fight!” Henry asks his audience, “But when shall we be
stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when a British guard shall be
stationed in every house?” Though Henry does not claim to be a violent man, he realizes that
they must rise up together and fight before Great Britain abuses its power to cripple them. With
this, he destroys false hope by placing it side by side with the colonies’ harsh reality, creating yet
another antithesis. Henry then uses the antithesis of weakness and strength to convince his
audience that they can, indeed, fight. He uses pathos by saying, “They tell us, sir, that we are
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weak; unable to cope with such a great adversary.” This emotional appeal curdles the blood of
patriots and excites the colonies to overcome a typical ‘underdog’ story, but Henry then
expounds on this by assuring his audience that God is on their side. Because, after all, when they
are “armed in the holy cause of liberty,” nothing can stand in their way from making “a proper
use of those mean which the God of nature hath placed in [their] power.” With God on their side,
Henry declares to his peers that they will not fight their battles alone, but instead, God will be
their greatest adversary. So with this in mind, Henry presents his audience with a choice; a
reiteration of the antithesis introduced at the beginning of the speech: freedom or slavery. Henry
welcomes the war because “[t]here is no retreat but in submission and slavery!” Because of
every point Henry previously made, the war is “inevitable,” and it is pointless to fight against
what must be.
In the dramatic culmination of the speech, Henry explains that the peace that many men
were hoping for is a false hope. Not only is the war certain, but it has already begun; their
“brethren are already in the field!” They cannot idly wait for this conflict with Great Britain to
work itself out; if they do, the chains of their slavery will be forged. So in light of all of this,
Patrick Henry delivers his concluding and most famous line, “give me liberty or give me death!”
Henry makes it clear that he is willing to fight for his freedom and would rather die than miss
this opportunity.
Throughout Patrick Henry’s speech, his strategy lies in the presentation to his audience of
a series of options: false hope or reality, past or future, weakness or strength, freedom or slavery,
and liberty or death. The polar opposites expressed in these antitheses make it clear what the
audience should choose. At the end of the speech, fighting is not only the reasonable option, but
also the only option. The underlying pathos, logos, ethos, rhetorical questions, and allusions
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further motivate the audience to take action in the fight against Great Britain. The flawless use of
these rhetorical devices aid Henry marvelously in his fight against Great Britain and his fight for
freedom.
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Works Cited
http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/henry.shtml
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841228_1841749_1841737,00.h
tml