Joseph Hague
Miss Gilmore
English III
31 October 2013
¨Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God¨
An oratory in literature is a form of public speaking that is formal. ¨Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God¨ was written by Jonathan Edwards to persuade and scare Puritans that weren't connected with God very much. Edwards wrote this piece of literature by himself as a six hour sermon and terrified the audience by the very vague and colorful language he used in it. Due to the persuasiveness, the emotionally appealing text that addressed the needs and concerns of the audience, and the use of colorful and rhythmic language ¨Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God¨ is classified as an oratory.
The persuasiveness in this particular oratory was a major part of why it was so popular. An example of persuasiveness in this oratory would be when Jonathan Edwards is telling the audience, ¨This is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ...¨ This quote is persuasive because the audience should be able to tell that something bad will happen to them if they do not change their ways. The audience should begin to want to change their ways in the near future. Jonathan made this oratory very persuasive because he wanted his fellow Puritans to change their ways. He wanted them to be saved and go to Heaven.
An oratory should also have emotionally appealing text that addresses the needs and concerns of the audience. Edwards also made it this way so that the audience would be interested in it. An example of emotionally appealing text that addressed the needs and concerns of the audience is ¨God stands ready to pity you; this is the day of mercy...¨ This quote addresses the needs of the audience because they wanted pity from God. Edwards wanted this oratory to address the needs and concerns of the audience so that they might change their ways. An example of just emotionally appealing text is ¨The bow of God´s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice...