In Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” he uses many literary devices as a technique to produce a special effect in his speech. Some of the literary devices that he used were parallelism and rhetorical statements. In this speech, Patrick is trying to get some new and profound ideas across them to help them with the Revolution War. He is trying to get the point across when he says “ We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament” (Henry). This quote was parallelism because it used sentences that are grammatically similar or identical in structure, sound, meaning, or meter. In this quote, the words “we have” were repeated several times in anger. He was trying to get his point across that they needed to fight against Britain and not just wait for them to attack us. This statement is very repetitive because he is trying to make them understand why they need to fight Britain, he was protesting against them to fight a battle to receive liberty. Patrick wanted to make a stand and fight for his way of life, behavior, and political view, he was ready to go into battle to defend his rights. When Henry proclaims about why they should fight for their rights, he tries to make them understand that this could be there one and only shot at a successful war.
He says “If we wish to be free-if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending- if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!” (Henry). This is also parallelism because of his repetition of “if we.” In this quote, he sums up all of their past failures to fight and gain their liberty. He used the past experiences to help him try to get his point across of why they should fight the government once more, the correct way. In his speech, he used parallelism to help people understand why they should fight against the government in his favor. He wanted to use past experiences to help them to win the fight and with Patrick Henry’s help, they can. Another literary device that Patrick used to help get his point across was some rhetorical questions to help the people understand to get a sense of what they will be missing out on. He says “Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation?
Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love?” (Henry) This was a rhetorical question because he was not asking for an answer. He was just trying to convey his message in a more efficient way that people could understand his point behind it. He wanted people to fathom his way of thinking. In this next quote, he will question the people on why they sent their “brethren” in to fight, but leave everyone else to live in royalty: “ Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” (Henry). He is trying to tell the audience that they are wrong by sending their brethren, they should be sending every man that can fight to help win this battle. In Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” parallelism and rhetorical questions are used to persuade the audience that it is time to stand up and fight for their rights.
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