Public speaking

Courtesy of YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrrBs8JBQo&feature=player_detailpage

When I think of public speaking, the first speech that comes to mind is a motivational speech from the movie Braveheart. The speech is given by William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, who is the leading Scottish knight at a battle for Scottish Independence. At the time of the battle, Scotland's freedom is being threatened. The soldiers realize that they will die if they fight, but it comes at the cost of Freedom. Every time that I listen to this speech I get chills because of the effect that Wallace's words have. There are multiple reasons that the speech is so effective, but the main reason is because of the seriousness of his words. Each and every word is motivated by the constant gloom of Independence. In the speech Wallace says that death and freedom is better than life and confinement. These words are so persuading and effective that the entire army wants to fight. To make it effective he uses certain future possibilities and certain vocabulary so that everyone in the audience (the army) gets the message. After hearing it a couple of times it sounds like public advocacy. I also think it is extremely persuading because of his background. He has a good deal of ethos or credibility so the audience would tend to agree with him and support him.