Rhetorical Analysis Example

Fire, hell, and eternity were central topics implemented by Puritan preachers during the colonial period. In a time of witch hunts and the vengeful Yahweh of the Old Testament, a preacher named Jonathan Edwards began a new type of verbal rhetoric: “fire and brimstone” sermons. Edwards took a new view on God, that God was ruthless and condemning towards sinners.  He outlined this belief in his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. This speech, given in 1741 to a Presbyterian congregation in Connecticut, forever changed religious and literary approaches. Edwards’s fiery imagery, breakthrough topics, and effective use of all aspects of rhetoric created a successful speech that struck terror and conversion into the hearts of his followers. Though he spoke with a calm, easy tone, avoiding eye contact with his audience, his words caused chaos in his congregation. People were yelling, praying, converting, and cowering in fear to Edwards’s powerful sermon. This speech that drove people crazy has endured as an example of effective rhetoric.

            Edwards gave his sermon intending to disrupt his audience. He used a fearful topic and portrayed his message through alarming imagery and an angry, warning tone. Edwards was aware of his audience, knowing that they were not only Puritans, but also human. He knew they had sinned and made mistakes in their lives, and that they were hesitant converts who had not fully dedicated themselves to faith. He also knew that they were aware of and fearful of a spiteful, unforgiving God, because of their study of the Old Testament in the new King James Bible. Using this knowledge, Edwards played on his audience’s emotions, convincing them that they are evil sinners, saying, “Oh sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God” (28). Edwards manipulates his audience and appeals to their fear of death and hell.

            Edwards implements frightening and vivid imagery in order to establish themes of fear and dread. Two themes focus on these negative connotations of life. The first refers to God’s wrath at the evils of humanity. To emphasize this theme, Edwards uses strong metaphors and allusions, comparing the fierceness of God’s wrath to a burning inferno, a terrible storm, a hurricane, and an explosive flood. These images show the audience that God’s wrath cannot be stopped, appealing to pathos by scaring them so they crave redemption. The second negative theme describes the terrors of hell, the consequence for the unconverted. Edwards describes hell as a gaping mouth, waiting to consume them in flames, and only the truly converted – those that were “…raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new…light and life…” – can escape hell’s clutches (25). All the unconverted nonbelievers are destined for an inescapable suffering in hell, waiting “…in the hands of an angry God,” who will cast them into the flames (25). These images and ideas cause fear in the audience and make them wish for deliverance from their sins and the threat of hell, a plea that Edwards is ready to answer.

            In this manner Edwards reaches his final theme, the theme of salvation. After successfully frightening his audience into submission, Edwards offers an escape, “…an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the doors of mercy wide open,” (36). This strong imagery persuades his audience to convert, realizing Edwards’s purpose. He scares them with horrifying images of God’s anger and hell, and then gives them a chance to escape hell by repenting of their sins and becoming completely devoted to their Puritan religion. Edwards gives the people hope, his strongest appeal to pathos yet. After filling his audience with despair and fear, Edwards reveals his objective, conversion, as their escape and salvation, effectively persuading them to devote themselves to Puritanism.

            Throughout his essay, Edwards follows three main patterns of development. The first and central pattern is the process of inductive reasoning. Appealing to logos with logic, reason, and facts from the Bible, he persuades them that hell is terrible, and no one wants to go there. However, God is angry at their sinful ways and, according to Edwards, they will go to hell unless they repent and convert. Therefore, the people convert to be saved from hell. Edwards also uses definition to describe what he means by the wrath of God. “Whose wrath is it: it is the wrath of the infinite God,” is an example of Edwards’s definition of God’s anger (28). He also establishes his definitions of God’s wrath and hell throughout while using the pattern of description. His fiery descriptions and terrifying imagery reveal his definition of hell and imprint the fearful image in the audience’s minds.

            Edwards’s style also established his purpose. His diction is full of powerful words and phases that create striking images, such as, “you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in yours.” (27). He varies his sentence choices, using simple sentences for added effect of a strong point, as he does when saying, “There will be no end in this exquisite horrible misery.” (34). Edwards also mixes in compound and complex sentences to balance his ideas and show their equal importance. For instance, in his sentence, “When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, …then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it,” Edwards shows the equal importance of the suffering and God’s use of suffering as an example to the world (32). These simple and complex sentences appeal to ethos, showing that Edwards knows his subject and can effectively get his point across.

            Edwards’s themes, imagery, and effective use of rhetorical strategies give him a successful sermon. He achieves his purpose through inductive reasoning, converting those in his audience by showing them the evils of hell, and giving them a solution to escaping hell. He uses the three classic appeals to draw in his audience, establish trust and credibility in his authority, and manipulate their emotions to follow his persuasion. His blaring, powerful words and blunt, frightening imagery create fear in his audience, but his promise of salvation offers them hope for eternal life.