Rhetorical Analysis Of Winston Churchill's Speech We Shall Fight On The Beaches

The United Kingdom was in a state of disarray in 1940: the economy was down, Europe was a battleground, and most importantly, the spirits of the people were downtrodden. The United Kingdom’s military was losing more troops than they could produce. The newly appointed Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, delivered a speech on June, 4 1940 that became one of his most poignant and memorable moments while in office. Popularly recognized as “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” this speech greatly impacted the Second World War and may have been a catalyst for the Allies’ successful defeat of the Axis powers. This speech’s purpose was not to plan out an attack or make tactical military decisions, but to encourage the people and produce an environment of unity in the midst of terror. Churchill effectively unites the British people during a time of crisis in his speech by rhetorical appeals such as logos, ethos and pathos, the repetitive use of the pronoun "we,” as well as consonance and variation of sentence-length.
Churchill’s use of rhetorical
The employment of consonance allows an emphasis of a point or topic. When Churchill says “I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts,” he uses wit and consonance to make his point clear. He is able to capture the audience’s attention by changing the pace of his essay. Churchill’s use of similes when he speaks creates an image for his audience. He is showing the audience instead of only telling him. An example of simile can be seen when Churchill says the “German eruption swept like a sharp scythe.” He paints a picture in the audience’s head which in turn elevates the effectiveness of his speech due to the use of descriptive phrases and comparisons. The audience is more attentive towards Churchill’s goal of unity whenever tools such as consonance and similes are