Tuesday 13 January 2009

Assignment on Rhetoric - Vignesh Ram, A, II BA English

Vignesh Ram, A, writes...:

Famous Speech of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and analysis of its Rhetorical perspective:

Sixty one years ago our would be first Prime Minister of free India delivers a speech which is intended to inspire what was to be the independent spirit of our Nation. And it is this great articulation that will be looked into in detail from a Rhetorical perspective in the following:

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru talks to a multitude of eager Indians about their duty and responsibility in handling the new power vested in their hands on that eventful day. He speaks elaborately about the hardships involved in the days that would follow the 15th of August, 1947. His speech, we find, is emotionally, politically and patriotically quite profound. He in a methodical way, conveys his idea of what an independent India would be like and how the free Indiana should work, labour to achieve that goal.

To every great speech ever delivered in the history of mankind the most important aspect is and always has been the opening line. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru begins this historical speech with this line:

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very systematically.”


Thus delivering the expository line of his entire rhetoric he forges his way into the speech. He does not mince his words in making it clear to the listening public, the difficulties the nation has gone through so far and the challenges it would face from posterity. He addresses the soul of our nation and recognizes the sufferings of our people. He captures and conveys this thought as follows:

“A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, then an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”

He urges every Indian, on that day to pledge his/her allegiance to India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. He reminds every Indian that the independence from the British Raj is only a step even being an achievement. At the same time, he makes them aware of the magnitude of power and responsibility awarded to them by this mighty achievement. We find that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, being as the scholar he was, makes full use of his oratorical dexterity to embed these ideas in the minds of the Indian public to leave a rather deep impression.

Thus making his primary idea, he arrives at a fitting conclusion that is self explanatory and shall be left for itself to exhibit its rhetorical aesthetics. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments. To the people of India whose representatives we are, we make appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.”

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