Elizabeth I’s Speech Analysis

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Analytical writing assignment (Elizabeth I’s speech) In “Elizabeth I’s speech to the English troops at Tilbury”, the speaker uses positive dictions, tricolon and anaphora to develop her confident tone and to win trusts from her soldiers. The speaker uses positive dictions to build up confidence in her armies. Right at the beginning, she says ‘my loving people’; she uses ‘my loving people’ instead of ‘my people’, this already has a great effect on the audiences. She is a queen, but by saying so shows her love for the people and that she is not one of those monarchs who are careless of the soldiers. Throughout the speech, the speaker also describes the English troops as ‘faithful’ and ‘worthy’ people. She constantly compliments the soldiers to show her confidence in them. In the last paragraph, words like ‘obedience’, ‘concord’ and ‘valour’ have a sense of encouragement in its definition. Queen Elizabeth I expresses her trusts in the troops through these dictions. Another rhetorical device that the speaker uses is tricolon. In the middle of third paragraph, Queen Elizabeth I claims herself will be the troops’ ‘general, judge, and rewarder’ in the field. This example of tricolon demonstrates that the speaker is not separate but together with them in the battlefield. “Those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people” in the last sentence of the speech is another example of tricolon that the speaker uses. It increases the power of the speech and it fulfills the Queen’s purpose to build up a confident tone; because they are not just enemies but enemies of her God, her kingdom and her people and that her country will win over those enemies. Queen Elizabeth I also uses anaphora to accomplish her purpose. Throughout the whole speech, there are many sentences that start with ‘I know’ and ‘I assure’. For example in the last paragraph, “I know already, for your
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