New classical rhetoric : Tony Blair's rhetorical strategies and features of discourse

• Main Author: Ring, Magnus
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan Väst, Institutionen för individ och samhälle 2008
• Subjects: Tony Blair; Talarkonst; Retorik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-1185

Orators have throughout history used strategies to communicate as effectively as possible with their listeners. The ex-British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Tony Blair both engaged their people in war and hence gave account for the serious situations in broadcast speeches to the public. The purpose of this paper is to detect the features of Blair's discourse in a speech from 2003 and point out what rhetorical strategies he uses. I contrast my findings with a speech given by Churchill in 1940 to show to which extent Blair builds on tradition, and how different political circumstances might affect a speech. The conclusion shows that Blair's inclusive approach, deriving from the New Labour discourse "The Third Way", is apparent in e.g. the frequent use of vaguely defined pronouns as "we". Blair's speech is in line with the demands of a classical speech, and he uses the same persuasive devices as Churchill. Nevertheless the two ex-Prime Ministers' different political situations do affect the way in which they communicate their messages' which result in both differences and similarities.