Analysis

Here are the elements which will help you with your analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “This is an illegal war” speech.

The rhetorical situation is that the speaker is Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian and American actor, former professional bodybuilder, and politician. Schwarzenegger addresses the general Russian population to inform them about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Schwarzenegger’s speech follows a simple composition that can be split down into 4 main parts. Schwarzenegger begins and ends his speech by referring to his Russian friend, Yury, which offers the speech a circular structure.

The language used in the speech is neutral and easy to understand. Schwarzenegger uses language with strong negative or positive connotations to highlight the main ideas of his message to his audience.

Some of the main rhetorical devices that Schwarzenegger uses in his speech include repetition, antithesis, and metaphor. Schwarzenegger also addresses his audience directly throughout the speech in different ways.

In the speech, Schwarzenegger uses a mix of all three forms of appeal. He relies on pathos the most, and he also uses logos in order to provide credibility to his claims and help inform his audience.

You can read a full analysis of the speech on the following pages.

Further help

Engelsk

Speech analysis

I denne vejledning får du Studienets hjælp til, hvordan du analyserer, diskuterer og perspektiverer en tale (speech eller address) i engelskfaget. Kort fortalt handler det typisk om, at du skal lave en retorisk analyse af talen.

Excerpt

Below, you can read an excerpt from our study guide:

Pathos

Throughout his speech, Schwarzenegger appeals to pathos in different ways. Firstly, Schwarzenegger mostly uses words with strong negative connotations to highlight the terrible nature of the war in Ukraine. He refers to the “harsh realities”, “terrible things”, or “humanitarian crisis”. Another example is when he explains:

The destruction that Russian bombs are raining down upon innocent civilians has so outraged the world that the strongest global economic sanctions ever enacted have been imposed on the country. Those who don’t deserve it on both sides of the war will suffer.
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