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TWO INSPIRATIONAL SPEECHES.
Term Paper ID:28925
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Essay Subject:
Analyzes Hillary Rodham Clinton's `1997 speech to wives of Heads of State of governments of the Americas, & a commencement address delivered by the Dalai Lama. Primary purposes, styles of speeches, use of emotion, reason & parallel contrruction.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analyzes Hillary Rodham Clinton's `1997 speech to wives of Heads of State of governments of the Americas, & a commencement address delivered by the Dalai Lama. Primary purposes, styles of speeches, use of emotion, reason & parallel contrruction.
Paper Introduction:
"Seventh Conference of the Wives of Heads of State and Governments of the Americas"
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Setting
The setting is a meeting at the Seventh Conference of the Wives of Heads of State and Governments of the Americas in Panama City, Panama. This was held on October 10, 1997.
The speaker is Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of President Clinton of the United States. As the representative of the United States at the conference, her words would have been of particular interest to the other countries of the hemisphere. She speaks primarily not to politicians but to their wives, and her message is tailored to what she presumes are their interests in protecting women, children, and families. The speech as given
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
He furtheringratiates himself by indicating what an honor it is to be present and tobe able to speak at the commencement ceremony. Such speakers are often given honorary degrees as part of theagreement for them to speak, and this is the case here as the Dalai Lamaindicates that he has received such a degree and thanks the university forgranting it to him. In both cases, the speechgains by the prestige and importance of the speaker. His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual andtemporal leader of the Tibetan people. She also offers more praise for the state of Panamaand calls for a closer link between her country, Panama, and the othercountries of the Americas. He alsocalls for these graduates to accept religion, though this does not seem tobe a major point in his overall speech but a final assertion of his ownbelief in faith.Conclusion As noted, this speech is inspirational, and the English is not asbroken as the Dalai Lama fears, though it is simple and direct. http://isis.infinet.com/rinpoche/dalai.htm.Osborn, Michael and Susan Osborn. It isimpossible to know whether the graduates will take this to heart and setout to live the kind of life the Dalai Lama suggests that they should.Comparison Both speeches are inspirational in some degree, though the DalaiLama's is more general while Hillary Rodham Clinton's is more specificabout the kinds of action desired in each case. She had long fought for these issues and continued to do soonce her husband was President: Hillary's passion to make a difference in reshaping public policies and attitudes about children's and family issues . New York: McGraw- Hill, 1994."His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet." 2 . She then offers praise to the peopleof Panama and elaborates on her recognition of the hostess for the meeting,Mrs. Perez Balladeres. Bodhisattvas areenlightened beings who choose to take rebirth rather than pass intoNirvana, in order to help all sentient beings and to serve humanity. The effect in either the short term or the long term isimpossible to calculate. The speaker used conversationallanguage to accomplish this task, though her sentences are carefullyconstructed to repeat certain ideas and emphasize certain issues. HillaryClinton uses simple language and uses repetition in several ways tocommunicate her ideas. Any longterm effect will not be known for some time, but if the women assembledjoin these organizations and effect these changes, the effect will havebeen considerable. Dalai Lamas are seen as themanifestations of compassion, the Bodhisattva Chenrezig. Hehimself notes this when he says he will "speak directly to you through mybroken English." It may be that his first paragraph of acknowledgments andpolite talk was written out for him, for he does seem to differentiatehimself between his opening remarks and the rest of his speech. The tone of the speech is set by the opening as Hilary Rodham Clintonfirst offers greetings to the assembled wives of the heads of state andgovernments, including the wife of the president of Panama, where themeeting is being held. It thus seems even more likely that his remarks arelargely off-the-cuff, for he has spoken at length of this issue before andhas written a book on the subject of the human brain and how it can betrained beyond what is the norm. Theremaining issue is the purpose of the speech and how well the variouselements are developed to achieve the desired purpose. In this approach,the relationship between the audience and the communicator is mostimportant: Audiences sense a joining of interests through style as much as through content. Third, such speeches "revitalizeour appreciation for values or beliefs" (Osborn and Osborn 5 1). The audience is thereforeconvinced that she is speaking truths they already understood. Such speeches are common at graduationceremonies, as noted, and while this is a more authoritative source, theeffect may be just as temporary as most such speeches are. Burke says the effective communicator can show consubstantiality by giving signs in language and delivery that his or her properties are the same as theirs (Griffin 3 9). However, after Chinese troops suppressed the Tibetan NationalUprising in Lhasa in 1959, the Dalai Lama was forced into exile and hassince been living in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile ("His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet").Introduction The Dalai Lama opens his speech with a formal greeting to thepresident of the university, the governor of the state, and the faculty,students, and honored guests present at the ceremony. Works CitedBizzell, Patricia and Bruce Herzberg. The audience would have been graduates andtheir parents and others who attend university commencement ceremonies, andthere is a tradition of having well-known speakers address thesegatherings. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Second, such speeches draw on past successes inorder to encourage future accomplishments, and this is almost a necessarycomponent of commencement speeches given that the graduates have justaccomplished their primary goal of graduating and are now being told tobuild on that beginning for the future. In fact, she praises Panama specifically as acountry that has such diversity that it could serve as a microcosm of allthe Americas.BODY The style is conversational, communicative, and at a level tone inkeeping with the nature of the occasion. In thisregard, it is non-controversial and very much follows the tradition ofValedictorian speeches given at graduation ceremonies, except that theDalai Lama is speaking of the future of the graduates and not in terms of"our" future, meaning he is not including himself as he tells the graduateswhat sort of world awaits them and how they will have to learn to fit intoit.Body This is a heartfelt speech, and it truly seems to be an off-the-cuffaddress rather than a well-shaped speech. had not lessened in the twenty years since she was at Yale" (Radcliffe 229). The Dalai Lamashows this sort of enthusiasm and indicates in several ways that he has hada long-standing personal commitment to education and more broadly to thedevelopment of the mind. The Dalai Lama uses repetition in a small way to emphasize certainwords and so certain ideas. As the representative of the United States at theconference, her words would have been of particular interest to the othercountries of the hemisphere. The authors alsocited several characteristics of such speeches. The speech as givenin the morning.Introduction The five basic elements of Burkean pentadic criticism are act, agent,agency, scene, and purpose, serving as guides in discovering motives.Kenneth Burke developed the dramatism approach to unify rhetoric and poeticin a single analytical framework under which statements about motives canbe studied and compared in terms of the ways in which they treat thedramatic elements of human relations through the pentad, or five elementsof act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. This is clear from thelengthy opening noted above as she recognizes all the people present andgives them their due in terms of their rank in society. She speaks primarily not to politicians butto their wives, and her message is tailored to what she presumes are theirinterests in protecting women, children, and families. Martins, 199 .Dalai Lama and Howard C. New York: Riverhead Books, 1999.Griffin, Em. He usesmild jokes at his own expense at the beginning and end to tie his speechtogether. Hillary Rodham Clinton is tryingto persuade her audience about a number of political and societal needsthat have to be met, but she is doing so in a logical and calm manner,guiding their thinking without being inflammatory. . In1949, the Dalai Lama assumed political power, and he traveled to Beijing in1954 to participate in peace talks with Mao Tse-Tung and other Chineseleaders. Burke is concerned with the analysis of language and not reality.Burke's method is dialectical, though by today's standards it might also betermed deconstructive as he reveals contrary meanings in supposedlypositive terms and places an emphasis on the way language "defeats" reality(Bizzell and Herzberg 99 ). "Commencement Address by the Dalai Lama"Setting This speech was delivered as a Commencement Address at EmoryUniversity on May 11, 1998. He uses parallel construction as he states,"We have the capacity to think and to memorize. Hislanguage is acceptable if a touch strained as far as sentence structure andword choice, but he manages to be eloquent just the same. Instead, she repeats that "weare," "we have," and "we need." The problems she cites are not problemsjust for these other countries but for all humanity, and so the discussionbecomes encompassing and can be accepted by people who might otherwise feelslighted. She is not telling them what America has done andasking that they do the same, for instance. She develops her appeal by detailing the ills she wants to correct,and here she uses repetition and parallel construction with threeparagraphs beginning "Too many women" and then continuing to say that toomany suffer violence, too many are poor and less educated, too many areunaware of their legal rights, and too many are trapped in an endless cycleof poverty. The Rhetorical Tradition. The Art of Happiness. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.Radcliffe, Donnie. The speaker is Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of President Clinton ofthe United States. After this formal opening,the language used is more conversational, but everything the Dalai Lamasays is colored by the fact that English is not his primary language. In addition, she uses parallel constructions to emphasize certainideas as she develops the basic idea that there are social and politicalproblems facing the Americas that need to be addressed and that can besolved if the women assembled will join organizations and direct programsto help. This is in keeping with what theDalai Lama himself says, as if he were gaining the courage he needs "tospeak my broken English to you." He says that at such a formal ceremony,his broken English may not suit, but the sincerity of his remarks overcomesthis limitation. First, they areenthusiastic: "Inspirational speakers accomplish their goals through theirpersonal commitment and energy" (Osborn and Osborn 5 ). She speaks to the audience in a way that shows theyare all in the same boat--she does not lecture them or pretend in any waythat she is superior. New York: Warner Books, 1999. His speech as awhole is a celebration and recognition of the value of education. Her purpose is to persuade, andshe does so by raising ideas with which most people would agree andsuggesting that even more agreement is possible. The conversational tone is used well to treat the audience asone that understands and that is already sympathetic--"But let us notforget that we already know many of the solutions to these problems," forinstance, and "Only women ourselves can make democracy work for us and ourfamilies." She is also positive in many of her statements--she does notjust detail all the horrors the world faces but instead suggests that weare beginning to correct these problems. He received the Nobel Peace Prizein 1989. He was born on July 6, 1935 in a small village called Taktser innorth-eastern Tibet, and at the age of two he was recognized as thereincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. "Seventh Conference of the Wives of Heads of State and Governments of the Americas" Hillary Rodham ClintonSetting The setting is a meeting at the Seventh Conference of the Wives ofHeads of State and Governments of the Americas in Panama City, Panama.This was held on October 1 , 1997. Ofcourse, this is a goal which may or may not be met, but it is clearly theintent of the speaker and it is the intent of the Dalai Lama in thisinstance. Cutler. The Dalai Lama's comments on the value of education have particularresonance given the nature of his religion, which involves the systematictraining of the mind: The systematic training of the mind--the cultivation of happiness, the genuine inner transformation by deliberately selecting and focusing on positive mental states and challenging negative mental states--is possible because of the very structure and function of the brain (Dalai Lama and Cutler 44).From his book and other writings and speeches, it is clear that this issuehas particular importance for the Dalai Lama and that this is not the firsttime he has raised it. Hillary Clinton isalso speaking to a more August body, though neither speaker talks down totheir audience. Both want to spur others to action and belief and usetheir own cases as examples for others to emulate and learn from as theyseek to follow the precepts offered. Jerry Tarver offers a rule about oral communication when he indicatesthat "because listeners cannot reread a spoken statement, oral languagemust be simple and use more repetition" (Osborn and Osborn 313). He ends byindicating how he sees many signs of hope and suggests that these graduatescan and will be part of the improvements to be made in the world. We have something that canhave very special qualities." He also repeats education, instrument, andheart numerous times as he explains the connection between heart and mind--he also repeats his goal of achieving "a good heart, a warm heart, acompassionate heart." The second characteristic of an inspirational speech is apparent ashe tells the assembled throng that they have achieved their goal and noware ready to begin another chapter: "Now you start real life." Repetitionis also key in the Tibetan saying he offers: "Even if you have failed atsomething nine times, you still have given it effort nine times." The Dalai Lama then extends his remarks from the particular case ofthe graduates to the more general case of society and humanity at large ashe discusses the last century with its scientific and technological gainsand the coming century in which he believes the values of compassion andreconciliation will become even more important to the world. She also makes special mention of the reason forthen meeting--the Seventh Conference of the Wives of Heads of State andGovernments of the Americas, noting that this is the third time she hasappeared at one of these conferences. Hillary's views on these subjects are generally known in theUnited States, though they may be less well-known to those at thisconference. Hillary Rodham Clinton. At least,that is the hope.Conclusion This speech accomplished its primary purpose of bringing the womenassembled together around central ideas, and it also indicated the positionof the United States in these matters and the importance given to certainsocial changes by the American people. Public speaking. A First Look at Communication Theory. Applied to this speech, the Burkean approach identifies the act as aspeech to an assembled group, the scene as the setting discussed above,Hillary Clinton as the agent, and oral presentation as the agency. . Osborn and Osborn discuss the speech of inspiration which is intended"to arouse an audience to appreciate, commit to, and pursue a goal,purpose, or set of values or beliefs" (Osborn and Osborn 5 ), which isprecisely the sort of speech given by the Dalai Lama. This pentad is meant as a wayof analyzing descriptions of human behavior and is not the human behavioritself.
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