Speech Text Analysis

Speech Text Analysis

In 1872 women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony was arrested for illegally voting in that year's presidential election. She gave a speech following the incident, in an effort to persuade her audience of her innocence and of the injustice done against her. Susan B. Anthony's speech on Women's Right to Vote is an excellent example of what a good persuasion speed should be. She uses a circular pattern of organization to state her purpose in a tasteful and direct manner that displays well her passionate views on the subject of women's suffrage. Anthony's speech includes an intriguing, clearly written introduction, a body that is well-put and thought-provoking, and a conclusion that beautifully wraps up her ideas and which leaves her audience feeling the importance of her words.

Anthony's introduction is beautifully written. Right away she grabs the attention of her audience by announcing the considerably unjust circumstances which have brought her to speak on the occasion and her purpose of disproving the truth of the allegations brought against her. She announces her main points saying, "It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny." This statement sums up her main points in a way that is easy to follow, and also that helps to invoke the same passion which she feels on the subject in the hearts' of her audience.

She introduces the body of her speech with an excerpt from the preamble of the Federal Constitution, a source that can definitely be determined as a credible one. The excerpt works very well as a transitional piece into the body of her speech. She uses the

excerpt to secure her point that the country was founded on equality, including the equality of women. She takes and explains the statement from the Constitution very literally, taking advantage of the fact that it does not exclude women from the rights it bestows upon the citizens of the United States. She next breaks down what she understands to be the meaning of the Constitution, which is what she wants her audience to understand as well. In her translation of the excerpt from the constitution, she uses the words "downright mockery" in reference to the oppression that she is speaking against. This concept that she presents her audience helps her point by making opposing ideas sound absurd. Also in this portion of her speech, she refers to the ballot as "the only means of securing them [blessings of liberty] provided by this democratic-republican government." This presents her idea as a desirable object, which is also an effective method of swaying her audience in her favor. Anthony uses all of this as a set up for her next, slightly stronger statement about the government's denial of rights to the women of America.

Following the circular pattern of organization, she uses her previously presented idea to jump into her next, bolder one. Anthony outright accuses any state outlawing the voting rights' of women of violating "the supreme law of the land." She shows no mercy when harshly accusing the governments of holding the "blessings of liberty" back from all women. Again, following the same pattern Anthony uses this to jump into a slightly stronger idea, which will eventually lead to her thesis.

After establishing both her translation of the law and the crimes against women that the states have committed, Anthony continues on to describe the definition of the law that the states enforce. In this particular portion of her speech Anthony relies heavily on strong, passionate language to push her point across very effectively. Her opening thoughts of this final idea before her conclusion describe what the states form of government does not employ, namely, Anthony states it is lacking "just powers derived from the consent of the governed." This strategy of presenting the government as lacking the justice Anthony so passionately described earlier in her speech is an effective method of letting her audience feel the