Styles of Communication (Dec 2018)
The Retrospective Analysis of Selected Speeches Given by Winston Churchill from 1938 to 1945
Abstract
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is one of the most recognizable figures in modern history. The former British Prime Minister occupied numerous roles during his lifetime – a politician, writer, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, historian. However, for the purpose of this article we have focused on one of Churchill’s most prominent roles – an excellent orator. The former Prime Minister has been remembered for giving superior speeches that during the war period gave people hope and courage. Churchill found good rhetoric as a remedy for every concern and as the most potent weapon against the enemy. A few well-chosen words wrapped into persuasive arguments that go together with excellent delivery can persuade even the most diehard defeatists. The following article constitutes the retrospective analysis of speeches given by Winston Churchill during the war period (1938–1945). The analysis focuses on the very content of the speeches, not their register. Therefore, we have not analyzed the applied rhetorical devices but the used arguments. The speeches have been analyzed according to the method of textual markers introduced by Piotr Chruszczewski in 2003. According to this method, the analyzed text is divided into small, consistent fragments which correspond to one strand. The fragments are then described by markers that constitute the models of the arguments that were used by the speaker. The social embedding of the analyzed speeches required coming up with additional models of arguments.
