Rhetorical Analysis Essay on Madeleine Albright’s Commencement Speech

Throughout the discourse of United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Mount Holyoke College's emerging women's class, she discusses that she could use the education and experience to support much more herself. She presents the wide spectrum for themes throughout her usage diction, facts, and repetition, such as atomic weapons, the gender inequality in culture, and the consequences of tenacity. In order to prove that students have both the ability to do just that, Albright reveals her views and the reforms she has made in nations around the world. She shines light on how, only because they have graduated, these women can not avoid shaping the world around them.

One of several issues discussed by Albright throughout her presentation is the effect that atomic weapons use on culture. In defining the guns as "child-maiming ", she applies her knowledge in the area of audience to which she speaks to her advantage. Specifically, this brutish use of diction was selected so she realized she might introduce herself to prospective mothers and how for the duration of her lecture it would attract their interest. In order to raise the emotions of her audience, she also made sure to introduce the juxtaposition of nuclear weapons and youth. Albright also includes how' nuclear missiles no longer target our homes because of U.S. leadership  and how we should rest , then digresses on to describe how she is interested in trying to forever ban nuclear weapons. Doing so supports her view of the subject by revealing to her female viewers that just because residents are safe, it does not mean that the rest of the planet is therefore safe.

She also uses Bosnia's terminated battle to help her assertion and how they should stop ensuring that it never resurfaces, but "instead, we are renewing our commitment and insisting that the parties meet theirs." This declaration suggests that Albright is behind the forthcoming campaigns to guarantee this country's protection. Albright teaches her audience how apparently mere acts have the potential to grow and influence society on a larger scale by including this option in her message. Moreover, with the use of reliable facts, Albright analyzes women's status throughout history and in today's culture. She includes how women have gained a significant amount of rights and how they "could now lower [our] voices and sit down sedately " as some suggest." This assertion relates to the challenges that women have had to conquer in the past and the obligation of society not to settle. 

In addition, Albright addresses the potential consequences of the course she just told her audience at the end of her speech. Of the last five paragraphs of her address, Albright ended four with the phrase, "and persevere." Through doing so, she takes the adverse incidents of her audience she has just shared, such as distractions and opponents, and reassures them that they have the power to overcome them. Although perseverance is not the easy thing to do, Albright stresses it in her lecture to illustrate how it is necessary if the world wishes to make a difference. Albright, however, continues to address her audience several times as "you" as she reaches the conclusion of her message. The usage of "you" reveals and persuades the listener to apply her voice to variables of their own lives. To inflict a lasting effect, this technique is used to provide a feeling of familiarity between the speaker and the audience.