Emmeline Pankhurst's The Plight of Women - In what ways is Emily Pankhurst's 1908 speech ~The Plight of Women an effective speech?

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By Sarvinder Saini

Emmeline Pankhurst’s “The Plight of Women

Q – “In what ways is Emily Pankhurst’s 1908 speech ~The Plight of Women an effective speech?

A – Emily’s speech is effective in many ways. She uses many different methods such as rhetorical questions, facts and many other things besides, to make the crowd agree with her and follow her lead.

Rhetorical questions are used in the speech, to help question the crowd’s mind. The question is answered in each of the crowds mind and this gives them the information, of what they really think of the situation. Such questions are “What security of maintenance has the married woman?” and “I ask you, if women had the vote, should we have had such laws?” These are very effective in a speech, and are among the most important factors, as it shows what the speechmaker’s thoughts and answers are too.

Personal experience is sort of used in the speech, but in a different way. Emily speaks of personal experience as she has seen it happen with her very eyes, but does not mention it happening to her herself.  Such an example is when she speaks of the woman she saw in Herefordshire during her by-election.  She says that the woman was a “domestic servant” and has put the child out to nurse and had gone to jail for three months for this. Personal experience is important and effective in such a way that the crowd knows that the speechmaker has seen the situation herself or has had it done to herself. This tells the crowd that the speechmaker can be trusted and that she understands the situation, and is not just a pawn for somebody else.

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Emotion is used a bit in this speech, but only in sentences where she expresses a point with severe emotion. Such a sentence is – “If he is not, if he chooses almost to stave his wife, she has no remedy.” Emotion is used for demonstrating the real picture of the situation. It brings the listener to look for their feelings and also shows the reader’s opinions better and emotions too, but it really helps the reader picture the situation more.

Short sentences are an important part of this speech too. These sentences include “That parent is the father” ...

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