Charlie Chaplin's Speech To The World (Reaction & Analysis)

perhaps one of the most thought-provoking and moving speeches delivered in the history of mankind is the speech we're about to listen to today this is the speech given by Charlie Chaplin at the end of the film The Great Dictator there are several editions of the speech that exist on YouTube we're going to watch the one without the soundtrack in the background there are a few videos with 25 million views in which people have added Hans Zimmer's time soundtrack lace that with the rhetoric of the speech and in my opinion it creates an inflated artificial emotional quality that detracts from the weight and the power behind the individual words themselves because this presentation from a purely rhetorical perspective is a master class on how to create a succinct and Powerful message I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor that's not my business I don't want to rule or conquer anyone I should like to help everyone if possible Jew Gentile black man white we all want to help one another human beings are like that this right here is an example of Charlie Chaplin using a rhetorical device called asynditin which is omitting any conjunction words to create a more profound and dramatic effect he says Jew Gentile black man white he doesn't say Jew and Gentile and black men and white he removes the and it's the same idea of veni vidivichi I came I saw I conquered removing and creates more of a profound effect we want to live by each other's happiness not by each other's misery we don't want to hate and despise one another in this world there's room for everyone and The Good Earth is Rich and can provide for everyone the way of life can be free and beautiful but we have lost the way greed has poisoned men's Souls has barricaded the world with hate has Goose stepped us into misery and bloodshed notice in this example how chaplain is specifically employing words that paint and conjure a military undertone to what he's saying words like barricaded words like Goose stepped Goose stepping is long-legged Goose walk as they call it that would characterize the military marches of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany he's also using words such as Bloodshed he's painting a very Vivid picture we have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want our knowledge has made us cynical our cleverness hard and unkind we think too much and feel too little this is an example of an appeal to Pathos pathos is one of the three rhetorical devices that Aristotle taught as keys to effective communication Pathos Logos and Ethos pathos is trying to appeal to someone's emotions in this example Chaplin is trying to conjure up feelings of remorse and conviction we think too much and we feel too little more the Machinery we need Humanity more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost the airplane and the radio have brought us closer together the very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men cries out for Universal Brotherhood for the unity of us all even now my voice is reaching Millions throughout the world millions of despairing men women and little children victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people to those who can hear me I say do not despair the misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die Liberty will never perish soldiers don't give yourselves to brutes men who despise you enslave you who regiment your lives tell you what to do what to think of what to feel who drill you diet you treat you like kettle use you as Cannon father don't give yourselves to these unnatural men machine men with machine minds and machine Hearts you are not machines you are not cattle you are men you have the love of humanity in your hearts you don't hate only the unloved hate the unloved and the unnatural soldiers don't fight for slavery fight for liberty in the 17th chapter of Saint Lucas is written the kingdom of God is within man not one man nor a group of men but in all men in you you the people have the power I hate to pause the speech when we're in the middle of such emotionally intense charged words but I just wanted to point out when he's quoting the Bible this is an appeal to ethos he's showing he is well read in that he is using a form of shared understanding between us and him to make a more profound Point by quoting Luke the power to create machines the power to create happiness you the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful to make this life a wonderful Adventure then in the name of democracy let us use that power let us all unite let us fight for a new world a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give you the future and old age of security by the promise of these things brutes have risen to power but they lie they do not fulfill that promise they never will dictators free themselves but they enslave the people now let us fight to fulfill that promise let us fight to free the world to do away with national barriers to do away with greed with hate and intolerance let us fight for a world of Reason a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness soldiers in the name of democracy let us all unite what most people don't realize is the film immediately ends after that that is the end of the film I always thought this was smacked right in the plot somehow and there was something afterwards there really is nothing the speeches very timeless it is one of the most viewed speeches on YouTube for a reason because what chaplain does so beautifully and you don't have to understand the story of the film so much as you really need to understand that he's taken many Timeless and beautiful principles and he is wrapping the objective that he has and tethering them to what we all desire to feel and that is the fact that our existence is somehow significant to the universe and a lot of the times by connecting your ideas to Timeless principles you can convey and play to those desires that we all have and this is all complemented by the fact that chaplain in this speech uses and employs very effective rhetorical devices he uses anaphora anaphora is the idea of repeating a phrase at the beginning of a sentence consistently you the people have the power you the people have the power to and then follows it up with the point he's making in the sentence he uses alliteration alliteration is using the same consonant or vowel in words back to back to create a dramatic and memorable quality to your words I would love to know what the emotional quality looks like graphed out because there clearly is an acceleration in the intensity and the emotional quality of what he's saying and it doesn't it doesn't increase precipitously in fact I would argue that there is a lull toward the end and then he has this call to action soldiers in the name of democracy let us unite but the beginning of the speech is him calling out Humanity for having sacrificed responsibility of providing a quality of life to all people and instead we've replaced that responsibility with the I think it's greed a hatred pessimism and and violence and that's the first half is diagnosing the problem and he uses a lot of Pathos in that and then the second half of the speech slash the beginning of the second half is him providing optimism for a society that he condemns as cynical the goodness that exists in this world the values the qualities the grand ideals that we should strive for in life and then he ends by energizing his audience to revive what has become this lost state of humanity there's a very profound narrative archetype in the message that he shares and that's something that I feel is worth highlighting because great profound orations are not in fact never a scatter shot a brain dump of ideas that are unordered there is an order in coherency from a macro perspective meaning from the speech as a whole but when you break it down there are sections that are also ordered and that's what's often called the micro state of presentations you'll notice this in the very beginning I want to find an example here where he will make a point he will say for example the way of life can be free and beautiful but we have lost the way and then he follows that up with an explanation of what he means by us having lost the way it's almost as if here's the point I'm making let me provide a link to explain that and break it down he is double clicking into a sentence and he follows this by greed has poisoned men's Souls has barricaded the world with hate I'll leave the speech below if you want to review it I just wanted to share my thoughts on this because this is one of my favorite speeches that exists on YouTube both for the rhetorical devices used and the masterful craftsmanship of the words themselves

Channel: Joseph Tsar

Views: 6,394

Keywords: charlie chaplin, charlie chaplin speech, the great dictator speech, charlie chaplin the great dictator, the great dictator speech breakdown, charlie chaplin speech analysis, the great dictator speech charlie chaplin, you are not machines you are men, machine men with machine minds and machine hearts, charlie chaplin movies

Id: g5ZyzyrsRQs

Length: 9min 46sec (586 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023