Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” Speech. Listen as he re-creates Patrick Henrys powerful words spoken Maat St. The allusion is effective due to the fact that it is an established and well-read text, with a strong comparison between the events of the story and the current predicament of the colonies. He offers the alternative of taking action and fighting for their freedom to avoid the potential future his allusion constructed. He does so by comparing Odysseus’ men to his own compatriots and their need to resist turning into beasts. He agrees that while being inactive about the conflict may be easier, this decision may lead to adverse long-term results.

This correlates with his main goal for the speech, which is to convince the colonial leaders that their only real option is to fight against the British forces. The purpose of using this specific event as an allusion is that Henry requires the presence of a well-known work to illustrate the affairs between the colonies and Great Britain at the time. The siren then transforms all of the men into beasts. Patrick Henry used rhetorical questions very precisely to make the listeners think for themselves so the message would sink in further.

In this line, Henry alludes to Homer’s Odyssey, specifically pertaining to the scene in which Odysseus’ men fall asleep after listening to the song of the siren Cyrce. Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Second Virginia Convention had many rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questions, allusions, and metaphors. “Listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts” is an allusion within Patrick Henry’s ‘Speech to Virginia Convention’ (Andrews, 2018).

Patrick henry speech