Draft #2: Rhetorical Analysis & A Little Insight

Rhetorical Analysis

A charter was issued by King James I on April 10, 1606 to direct his authority to the eldest of the English colonies in America, for establishing a civilization on the east coast of America. The tone of the message was authoritative in all respects. Commands (or demands) from a country to its dominions to basically build new colonies sounds authoritative without any tone of leeway for self governing; the text is in plain, written orders. If the text is ‘persuasive’, it is merely because it is a written set of orders from the king of a large and powerful country. In reality, the rhetorical ‘persuasiveness’ of the text is poor. The only factor lending persuasive power to the text lies in the fact that the King wrote the message. I respond to the quality of the persuasiveness as if I am one of the King’s subjects. The Ethos of the passage, the appeal to authority (me), was more than sufficient because a King of a country, with a massive army, was issuing the message. The Pathos of the passage, the appeal to emotions (mine), was virtually non-existent; there is no emotional appeal within the content of the document. Similarly, the Logos of the passage, the appeal to logic (mine), was irrelevant; the document is simply a set of instructions.

Personal Insight

Located on the second page of “The First Charter of Virginia” is the section of the text that speaks of England’s divine purpose in establishing a colony on the east coast. It is the thought that Europeans have something to teach of such virtue that lends them the false perception of being superior to the Natives. This perception allows the Europeans a sense of comfort as they dominate the Natives, ultimately resulting in immoral slaughter. A simple reflection on the Europeans’ action toward the natives suggests that it is the exact opposite of divine. If the Europeans engaged in an internal, simple, reflection of their unholy actions, which are directly contradictory to the written Bible, there may have resulted a step toward peace with the Natives. I am confident stating that any teaching that leads one to believe that one’s stature is ultimately above another’s results in inevitable aggression from the supposed superior. Thus, it is likely that a King would distort the Bible’s teaching to suit his desires.