Speech Analysis

Background Information
1. Who is the speaker?
The speaker was, American politician, Robert F. Kennedy.

2. When, where, and why (location, event, occasion) was the speech
delivered?
This speech was given at the University of Capetown in Capetown, South Africa, on June 6,
1966. This was delivered on the university's Day of Reaffirmation of Academic and Human
Freedom"

3. What additional information should we know about the background or the

occasion?
History of slavery and racism would be good information to know before hand.

Content/Persuasive Analysis
4. What is the tone of the speech?
The tone was passionate and serious with a feeling of optimism.

5. What is the purpose/objective of the speech?

The purpose of this speech was to empower people to fight in a quest for equality,
especially the younger audience.

6. How does achieve this purpose in the speech? What basic techniques are
used to prove his point?
He uses good amounts of all ethos, logos, and pathos throughout his speech.

7. ETHOS: These are appeals based on the credibility and manner of the
speaker. What qualifies this speaker as an expert on this topic? What
evidence can you find of this persuasive technique in the speech?
a. we in the United States have extended and enlarged the meaning and the
practice
b. was an American politician
c. ...as in our own constitution.

8. LOGOS: These are appeals to logic and fact, or to the power of reason.
What evidence can you find of this persuasive technique in the speech?
a. we must recognize the full human equality of all our people- before God
government.
b. ...we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died.
c. just north are lands of challenge and of opportunities exploited.

9. PATHOS: These are appeals to the emotions of the audience. What

evidence can you find of this persuasive technique in the speech?
a. family, work, education, a place to rear ones children

b. the child of God.

c. to the men with when we share our land, our heritage

10. What other literary devices are used?

Literary
Device

Example

Repetition

our fellow human beings

Parallel
Structure

... we share our land, our heritage and our children's future.

Active Verbs

...they are hoping and they are gambling their progress

Alliteration

...promise and performance.

Allusion

liberty is the freedom of speech alluded to U.S. Constitution

Hyperbole

men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse

Imagery

...enclosed in the tight circle of those who slave his town

Metaphor

...dumb beasts of field and forest.

11. Select key phrases from the speech that reinforce the themes of the
speech.
Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed
from the work of a single man.
we must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between
men within our own nations - barriers of race and religion, social class and ignorance.
Yet as I talk to young people around the world I am impressed not by the diversity
but by the closeness of their goals, their desires, and their concerns and their hope for the
future.

_____________________________________________________________________________
12. In your opinion, is this a great speech? Support your response with
specific detail.
I think that was was a great speech because Kennedy used great use of all Ethos, Logos,
and Pathos. Kennedy himself was an american politician, so he had already built himself a
reputation. Then his use of logos when he states, A young monk began the Protestant
reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth,
and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who
discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are
created equal. shows that he really does know his topic well and can use facts to support his
claim. Lastly he continuously uses pathos on this speech my referring to the audience as we

and using the word our, this causes the audience to feel more attached and engaged in what
he speaks on.