Pericles Funeral Speech Analysis Essay

Pericles’ funeral oration â€Å"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated†, the words with such a strong meaning can be used perfectly to inspire the audience. But what is more inspiring is the way Pericles delivered the speech in the Greek famous War. In the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta, Pericles, Athens’ general and statesmen, delivered a powerfully comforting eulogy to the polis of Athens. This piece is a funeral oratory, a speech written to honor fallen Athenian heroes at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War while assuring the people that their city state is in good hands, and easing the pain of all the families and relatives of the deceased. At such a time of high emotions and patriotism, this oration is an example of Pericles’ brilliance with words. Pericles’ in fact used multiple methods in garnering support; since the â€Å"paragraphs† of the first half his speech are so highly organized, with one thought or idea moving clearly and substantially to the next, we will analize his speech part by part. The first theme, fitting in that the speech was given at a funeral for war heroes, is that the most valiant way a man can live and die is in service of freedom and his city – in this case Athens. As was customary at the end of each summer, the governor of Athens gave a public funeral oration to honor those who had died in battle. In the case of Governor Pericles – whose power depended on the will of the people– and given that the war promised to escalate beyond what anyone had anticipated, he used the public event as an opportunity to pull the population of Athens together and rouse support. Pericles then continues to his central theme, extolling the uniqueness and virtue of Athens and its system of government: democracy. Pericles describes Athenian democracy as a system of government where men advance on merit rather than on class or wealth. Pericles glorifies the â€Å"equal justice to all† under the law that all men of Athens share and glorifies their superiority over their peer poleis. Pericles’ funeral oration summary Indeed, a worthy summation of Pericles’s oration is that it is a count of the â€Å"points in which [Athens] is worthy of admiration†. In spite of his often jingoistic faith in Athens, Pericles is indeed right in assuming that â€Å"the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be [Athens’s]†. Even today we view this ancient city as the birthplace of the values of equality and democracy that we center our government upon. Since the analysis also considers the efficacy of the speech, there is a neo-Aristotelian or classical element to the underlying approach. Though the speech itself fits the broad definition of â€Å"ceremonial oratory,† the method of analysis is generative first and foremost, with no consideration given to epideictic models or methods. It is clear that Pericles views democracy as the best form of government and having adopted it, he views Athens as superior to their fellow city states. In fact, Pericles sees Athens as having the ultimate possible government; the one best conducive to freedom, liberty, courage, honor, and justice – the values most honored by the Athenians. Pericles extolls several of the virtues of Athens, most of them centered on the then-unique form of democracy. In a statement full of patriotism, Pericles proclaims: â€Å"We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.† That he could so effectively move from appeals to the audience’s sense of pride, comfort, and patriotism to an outright call to war proved curious. The methods he used to do so seem worthy of examination since citizens of more modern representative democracies should understand how their leaders manipulate (or to use a less negative term, â€Å"encourage†) them to take certain actions. Governor Pericles’ speech, captured by the Athenian historian General Thucydides and known as â€Å"The Funeral Oration,† serves as a model for how a leader in an executive role may raise the spirit of his or her people during a time of crisis. Beloved by historians, it offers a glimpse into a pivotal moment in ancient Greek history. Pericles’ speech offers a sort of road-map not only to determine how to construct such a speech, but for the audience to understand the appeals presented before them. The ability to move from patriotic appeals to a call for sacrifice, or of arms, should be understood by the audience of any representative democracy in order that they may rationally manage their own destinies and that of their nation. Pericles succeeded in it and garnered massive support for a war that was not going well and already appeared may drag on longer than anticipated, requiring great loss of blood, treasure, and the sacrifice of daily comfort at home. The â€Å"Funeral Oration† of Pericles stands as one of the great speeches of Western history. The people of our nation need to be grateful that they are even a part of a country that’s so superior, that it’s worth dying for.