Analysis Of How Lincoln Conveys His Purpose In The Gettysburg Address
On November 19th, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in all of American history. Consisting of only two hundred and seventy-two words and ten sentences, the Gettysburg Address has proven to stand the test of time and remain in people’s hearts. The Gettysburg embodied what America still stands for today which is fighting for their nation and being proud to be American. An individual can consider that the speech is noteworthy because of its deliberate use of rhetorical devices, inclusive and pathos language, simple yet efficient structure and primarily, being able to convey its original purpose.
Being considered as one of the most memorable speeches in American history, The Gettysburg Address had one main purpose that had been portrayed remarkably by Lincoln to his audience, the people of America. “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live.” The technique, personification, has embodied America as a human being who has been given a second chance to live. The context of the quote refers to the main purpose of the speech, to inspire the people of America to continue to fight. The time the speech refers to is when America was in the midst of a bloody civil war which provoked chaos and desolation upon normal society. The Union troops had only recently defeated the Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg, so the speech was considered as a turning point in the war. The quote specified that Lincoln has decided to dedicate a plot of land that would be embellished as ‘Soldier’s National Cemetery’ meaning the land would be built as a cemetery specifically to bury the bodies of those who lost their lives during the war as a sense of honour. Lincoln did this to express to the people that he too cared for the brave men rather than focusing on the tragic topic of war. Lincoln insinuates human characteristics of the land because he compared the outcome of the war as devastating, yet he believed that through the mistakes they’ve suffered and learnt, they can recover from their downfall. Being given a second chance influences and inspires the Americans to fight in the war, rather than being left in a state of disbelief thus giving the people a second chance to fight for their nation. Thereby, personifying America as a human who has been given a second chance to live insinuates the thought and effort Lincoln has put into his speech for the main purpose to be communicated to his audience, the people of America.
Language and structure were arguably one of the best features of the speech. Despite being only two hundred and seventy-two words and also being said during a low-spirited time, Lincoln excellently remarked his speech through his perspective of speech language and structure. In terms of language, Lincoln was very careful in incorporating inclusive and pathos language. “Our fathers brought forth” and “We have come to dedicate” are one of the many sentences that frequently use this type of language. The reasoning behind this is related to the purpose of the speech, to inspire and influence people. To inspire them, Lincoln understood that the speech had to relate to them and emotionally appeal to the audience because Lincoln himself knew better than anyone else that this was a fight including civilians. He was careful to not elevate himself above the audience or the honoured dead for he knew he had to seem relatable in order to persuade and encourage his audience. Lincoln was also careful to ground his listeners in the immediate. He used the word 'here' eight times in two minutes, keeping the focus on what happened, what it means for the country and what it means for the people and their future. While expressing the bigger picture in the room, he sequentially treated his audience and aimed to redress any irregular emotions or imbalances existing within the people by using pathos language hence imitating the effect of unity. Coming along to the structure of the speech, the Gettysburg Address was quite basic in its physical form but the order of text being presented portrayed the eloquent language, rhetorical devices and the speech’s purpose. The speech consists of three body paragraphs with its first paragraph being a sentence long. For being so short, the first paragraph starts with a compound sentence and in a dramatic manner as Lincoln referred to a biblical allusion. Lincoln was smart enough to know that in order for his audience to pay attention, the first paragraph had to be thought-provoking. In the speech’s second paragraph, pathos is quite common around here since now that Lincoln has caught the attention of his audience, he must establish his idea by emotionally connecting with the audience for them to understand the speech’s purpose. Around here, Lincoln tended to use a variety of complex and compound sentences because, in many of his sentences, certain parts had to be focused. So rather than conveying the context of the sentences in a simple manner, he insinuated complex emotions unto the audience. In the speech’s last and largest paragraph, Lincoln honoured the dead to make a connection to the other paragraph's emotional appealment. While doing this, he started to end off the speech by hinting out mistakes made along the way in war but soon finally ended the speech by saying that as a nation, they can recover from this. Thereby, in the Gettysburg Address, we are able to detect that the specific alterations made in the speech’s language and structure were specifically made to appeal to an audience.
One of the dominant features of Lincoln’s remarkable speech is the use of rhetorical devices that have successfully managed to stir hope inside of people and convey the main purpose of the speech. “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” The statement “poor power” is an example of alliteration and is one of the features of Lincoln’s text that managed to draw the attention of people. In its basic entirety, the sentence is shown to have full of solemn respect for those who fought. This is shown through Lincoln’s use of alliteration in ‘poor power’ as it creates an alliterative sound that creates a particular rhythm and sound to provoke an emotion which is civility and dignity. Lincoln wanted to show his solemn respect for these brave men. The audience not only listened but understood the respective tone of the phrase thus making the audience also express their solemn respect for the brave men who died. Lincoln also quotes, 'But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate...we cannot consecrate...we cannot hallow...this ground.” The technique tricolon has been used frequently throughout the sentence. The tricolons used in the sentence is considered as a powerful public speaking technique because the dramatic and anticipated pause adds power to Lincoln's words. For such words to be said aloud, the audience heard the powerful cadence and rhythm of the sentence, making the speech memorable. The tricolon not only helped Lincoln convey his message to the audience but also helped the audience absorb the idea and remember it more effectively. Therefore, Lincoln’s superb use of rhetorical devices has managed to not only convey what Lincoln originally intended to but also provoke such emotions out of the people of America.
The use of rhetorical devices throughout the Gettysburg address is endless, but Lincoln’s clever use of various techniques compensated for his short speech. Lincoln started his speech with 'Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” The biblical allusion is evident throughout not only this sentence but also in the speech. Lincoln first referred to the phrase four score and seven years ago which alludes to the Bible “Three score years and ten”, Psalm 90. The phrase itself is much more poetic, elegant and noble to say rather than saying ‘Eighty-seven’. Lincoln reminded the audience that everyone is one as the majority of America shared the same religion thus hinting the people's similarity. Lincoln also mentioned “all men are created equal” which applies to the strong shared theme of equality mentioned throughout the Bible. Referring to the bible shares a connection between the audience because it relates to them as a whole population who all share a similar belief in the bible. This encouraged them to fight together under the influence of their biblical moral standards. Going over to the second paragraph, Lincoln used anaphora by repeating ‘we’ in most of the sentences in the first paragraph. Using the specific word created a sense of unity amongst the people which is most needed in a time of the struggling divided nation. Lincoln opened the second paragraph by stating, “we are engaged in a great civil war”. The phrase grouped everyone at the moment and for the rest of history, to show that everyone is on the same level. This not only inspired people to work together, but encouraged their right of freedom and sense of belief that they are part of a better system and what they are fighting for is right. Ergo, the wide range of rhetorical devices used by Lincoln compensated for his short speech and also has helped convey the main purpose of his speech.
Coming to an end, by analysing the Gettysburg Address, an individual can understand what made the speech so memorable and well known in American History. For being a speech consisting of only ten sentences, the speech has managed to successfully convey its main purpose through the deliberate and admirable use of rhetorical devices, inclusive and emotionally appealing language and it's simple yet efficient structure. An individual can learn a lot about public speaking by studying the great speeches of history and without any exception, the Gettysburg Address is one of the greats. Lincoln took his audience on a journey. It began with the founding of America and ended at a crossroads. He wanted to make sure that Americans chose the right path and he succeeded in that hence making this one of the most noteworthy speeches in history.
