Comparison on the Rhetorical Approaches used in Two Literary Works
             Paine's "Crisis, Number One" and King Henry's St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's Henry V both deal with men convincing soldiers to defend their country against an enemy. In doing so, both men use the three Aristotelian appeals (Logos, Ethos, and Pathos) to support their arguments. Paine uses the appeals more effectively because he uses them to support several different methods of gaining the soldier's support. He creates a desire to be honored, instills fear, raises anger against Britain, validates attacking the king, raises the soldier's self-esteem, and establishes the practicality of his character among others. Henry only attempts to glorify the honor that may be received if one fights against the French.
             Paine first uses pathos to create a desire for honor among the soldiers. Paine states, "...he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman"(Paine 95). Then Paine continues to use pathos to generate anger among the soldiers towards the British. He makes the soldiers feel as if they are being manipulated at the expense of the British. In one passage he lowers their status to that of a slave: "Britain, by taxing and binding them '... in all cases whatsoever', is enslaving them and such a power should only be accessible by God himself (Paine 95). Paine uses pathos again to set fear in their hearts of being dubbed a coward. Knowing that most soldiers hold their children in high regard, Paine asserts that "The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy" (Paine 95).
             While Paine uses pathos to support three solid arguments, Henry makes a weak attempt to set fear in the hearts of those that refuse to fight the French. A ma...