post #2

Leah Marcus’s From Oral to Print in the Speeches of Elizabeth I, really got me thinking about the impact a speech can make on an audience, and how that same speech loses some of its fundamental impact when translated to print. I believe this idea not only pertains to the speeches of Elizabeth, but can also be applied to any charismatic and moving speaker. The “metaphysic of presence” (pg.33) explains why people like, Adolf Hitler and Martin Luther King Jr. were such effective speakers, not only in uplifting the audience in the moment their words were spoken, but after the speech is over. Their words drive the audience to make the speakers visions come to fruition, in those cases, Nazi Germany and The Civil Rights movement. It just goes to show how important, but also how potentially dangerous the spoken word can be for people.

  For example, reading King’s “I have a Dream” speech is something we all have done at some point during the course of our educations, it is moving in the printed form and stirs the imagination but once you see video or listen to a sound recording of the speech, you understand what truly makes it so special. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it! But I didn’t feel that way until I was able to actually hear the speech. I assume the speeches of Elizabeth work this way too. A speech like the one she gave at Tillbury is a great example of “a dead body that needs to somehow be reanimated.” (pg 34)

 I think one way we can breathe new life into Elizabeth’s speeches is through immersion in the time period and through discussion; basically what we are doing in Ms. McElroy’s class this semester. I think it really helps to develop a clear understanding of Elizabeth’s life before and during her reign and all the adversity she faced in gaining her position. In understanding more about Elizabeth we get closer to attaining the same feelings her audience felt.