Speehes

HSC English Assessment Task – 4 (Essay) Question: “A great speech not only moves an audience but is also worthy of critical study long afterwards.” Do you agree' In your answer, refer to “Spotty-Handed Villainesses” by Margaret Atwood and “Statement to the Knesset” by Anwar Sadat. Response: Word Count: 840 Effective speeches are worthy of critical study far beyond their context if they are endowed with the ability to move an audience. By challenging the status quo, speakers can articulate insightful perspectives that may generate an improved world. Margaret Atwood’s Spotty-Handed Villainesses (Spotty) elucidates the need for a three dimensional depiction of women in literature. Like Atwood, Anwar Sadat’s Statement to the Knesset (Statement) is also motivational and persuasive as it emphatically emphasizes the futility of war, and the need for reconciliation and peace in the Middle East. Both speeches present their viewpoints with exemplary rhetorical devices, generating textual integrity that transcends time, inspiring responders and being worthy sources of critical analysis. Atwood’s Spotty is valued beyond her context and useful for analytical study as it portrays the need for change in literature, highlighting the restrictions imposed on women due to patriarchal structures. Atwood delivers her talk in 1994 to intellectual women readers at events and luncheons when the third wave of feminism has occurred and questions are being asked about feminism and the need for evolved depictions of females in literature. Atwood’s belief that women’s literary roles are fraught with out-dated polarities, is evident in the antithesis “When she was good, she was very, very good, / And when she was bad, she was horrid!” This narrow portrayal of women is innate to male-dominated societies as emphasized in the juxtaposition “Angel/Whore split so popular among the Victorians”. Atwood challenges the dichotomies of folklore, suggesting that updated, realistic characterizations of women are necessary in our modern world. The speaker employs metaphorical language to accentuate, that composers “… cookie cut … write a pattern and oversugar on one side”, expressing the need for authors to inculcate female characters with more meaningful realism. Atwood believes this revision is necessary so that outmoded stereotypical characterizations are dispelled. Thus Atwood effectively critiques the status quo through insights designed to expand the relevance of literature in our contemporary world. (210) Like Atwood’s address, effective speeches worthy of study move the audience through stylistic features such as those evident in Sadat’s Statement. Sadat condemns the continual conflicts between Israel and Egypt, articulating the tragic futility of war. Delivered in 1974, when there have been intense battles between the two nations, Sadat’s speech contributes to the beginning of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. The speaker conveys the painful, pointless nature of war through emotive language in “the cruel pains of widowhood and bereavement of sons, fathers and brothers”, using cumulative listing to espouse the suffering of Arabs and Israeli families alike. This unification is designed to move his audience of parliamentarians, prompting them to reflect on the effect of acts of destruction on their citizens. Sadat portrays the devastating consequences of war through a tone of despair in the imagery “…ruins of what man has built and the remains of the victims of Mankind …” and the antithesis, “… victor nor vanquished. The only vanquished remains man”. Sadat reinforces the hardship of lost lives in the religious allusion, “man, God’s most sublime creation, man whom God has created” to emphasize the worth of mankind and the subsequent calamity of needless slaughter. Sadat avoids differentiation between nations, evident with the holistic “man”, where a sense of unity is provoked between the Egyptians and the Israelis. Therefore Sadat effectively inspires his audience to work for peace by questioning the status quo and eliciting an end to conflict. (245) Effective speeches worthy of critical study provide insightful possibilities that challenge unsatisfactory circumstances and situations. Atwood’s Spotty challenges composers to update female characteristics. The speaker is enthusiastic in exploring other options, utilizing humor as she inserts colloquial language into her simile, “put a woman at the center of the something-other-than-breakfast, and see what happens”, implying that the possible role for female characters in “many doors… beg to be unlocked…” Atwood metaphorical symbolism implies that barriers to stereotypical portraits of women can be overcome. The rhetorical query in ”What is in the forbidden room'” involves her audience as she calls for authors to invoke broader, more modernized depictions of women in their writing. () Similarly, Sadat’s Statement provides a solution to escape the futility of war: a “permanent peace based on justice”. With conflict so horrendous, this answer provides a “safeguard of the lives of all our sons and brothers, for the opportunity for progress and happiness of man and his right to a dignified life...” The hyperbolic “smile on the face of every child born” reinforces the significance and value of peace in preventing loss and its ability to nurture and heal. Hence through providing insightful answers to challenge the status quo, improvements to both Atwood’s and Sadat’s environment are possible. (210) Therefore, there is no doubt that both Atwood’s Spotty-Handed Villainesses and Sadat’s Statement to the Knesset present an effective speeches to engage their audiences, as well as fulfilling the criteria of being worthy of critical study. By challenging the status quo, both speakers seek to upgrade mainstream ideas and values, generating perspectives that create an improved world. Word Count: 840 - Link to question + thesis at the beginning - Link to question at the end Sadat The confrontational revelation of peace being “menaced by destructive wars was launched by man to annihilate his fellow man” treats all nations as the uniform “man”. This conveys that we are all part of the whole, humanity and that we are all the same “man”. However, this sense of unity is complemented with the metaphorical “we used to brand you so called Israel … but there was this huge wall which you tried to build”, where the orator acknowledges that both Israel and Egypt are equally at fault for their destructive actions against each other. Atwood She also expresses that most novelists feel at ease adhering to conventional standards that prioritize the portrayal of men being the dominant figure as opposed to women.