Speeches Essay - Atwood, Keating, Pearson

1369 Words6 Pages
“Great speeches are the product of style, substance and impact”. To what extent does this account for a memorable speech? A great speech is determined by the substance and impact of the words in which the speakers attempts to convey their message. A memorable speech, however, is formed by the composer’s own personal and unique style and deliverance. This style adds to the overall reception of the speech and can either greatly benefit in the ideas and values of the composer. Different styles, of course, benefit more in different circumstances, which can be seen quite clearly in Margaret Atwood’s speech, “Spotty-Handed Villainess”, Paul Keating’s ‘Funeral Service for the Unknown Soldier’ and Noel Pearson’s “An Australian History For Us All”. All composers employ their own style to enhance the content and impacts of their speeches. Margaret Atwood, among many things, is a Canadian novelist and was a feminist campaigner during the 1960’s, although not an extremist, as shown in “Spotty Handed Villainess”. In her speech, Atwood challenges the ideals regarding women presented in literature and society, and in doing this also challenges the ideas of extreme feminists. It is in her casual and conversation-like style in delivering, however, that she constructs textual integrity through the use of many rhetorical devices to enhance the style and message of her speech. Her style, although considered ‘rambling’, overall benefits her topic of ‘Problems of Female Bad Behaviour in the Creation of Literature’ in the way that her anecdotes and allusions to many other texts involving the role of women enhance her argument as pieces of evidence. Quite early on in the speech, Atwood uses a personal anecdote to display the role in which fiction plays in society. In the anecdote, involving a play including her nephew where the two lead roles did nothing but eat breakfast, Atwood
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