An Analysis of Jacques Chirac's Reelection Speech

A great presidential speech instills the people with confidence and a sense of right. In Jacques Chirac's reelection speech, he accomplishes this by utilizing various rhetorical devices: anaphora, pathos, and tricolon. Chirac grabs hold of the audience's attention, congratulates its actions, and incites its confidence through the use of these techniques.

By employing anaphora, Chirac is able to attract the audience to what he is saying. He decrees, "I hail France, true to itself... I hail France" (para. 3-4). The parallelism here acts as an emphasis in the people's minds. By utilizing this form of repetition, Chirac ensures that the power and emotion behind his feelings, those of confidence and hope, are being conveyed and heard by the audience. His use of this device as opposed to simply listing all his praisings acts to make each statement important and that much more powerful. Furthermore, the specific diction in this anaphora further captures the listener.

Chirac emphasizes, "I hail the French, committed" (Para. 5). The specification of the people themselves in this last line of the parallelism works to bring in the audience personally. Throughout this device he is speaking about the French people, but by switching from "France" to "the French" Chirac insures that extra attention is paid to this last, and most important section. His change is key to conveying the feelings, that of confidence in the future, that he wises the audience to have. Gaining the ear of the people is critical to a good speech.

Chirac utilizes pathos in order to make the audience feel confident with their decision to elect him. He states, "You have taken a conscious decision" (Para. 11). The pronoun "you" makes Chirac's words personable and enables the audience to feel proud of their own actions. This simple word manipulates the listener into agreeing with the following statements simply because they are supposedly "his" or "her" action, what "he" or "she" did.

It places the audience in the action whether they were part of it or not. In addition, Chirac is thus able to congratulate the audience for "their" actions, saying "Your choice today is a founding choice" (para. 9). The word "founding" makes the whole act seem greater, more monumental, more important. This simple word instills the audience with a sense of pride and right at electing Chirac. It was their choice, and thy not only chose correctly, but they made the decision that will enable the growth of their country, "the founding choice." The emotion that such simple diction can evoke is imperative to creating confidence and hope towards the future.

A tricolon is a useful rhetorical device that ensures an emphasis and, in this case, sets up for the future. In listing his wants, he voices, "I want to see the values of liberty, equality, fraternity regain their full place" (para. 13). By listing these three values, Chirac is able to stress their importance and, at the same time, note how they fit together to form perfection. This is the holy trinity for his government, these are the fundamentally key points that must always be kept in mind. No one can argue with these, thus all agree and are confident in their worth. Also, each one will aid him in building a better country. As he defines each in paragraphs 14-15, Chirac outlines his plans for his coming term. In doing so through utilizing tricolon, he is able to link his plans with the infallible trinity. Thus confidence in his actions is guaranteed. He can do no wrong in keeping the fundamental values alive. A great speaker is one who can create a sense of security and faith in his words.

The speaker ensures the agreement of the audience through his conveyance of hope and forward motion. One can never fault the speaker who has gained one's confidence.

Work Cited:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1969902.stm