The Comparison Analysis of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher Essay Example

Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and friend of Ronald Reagan is giving a eulogy to her dear friend in order to commemorate his life after his death. Due to the passing of former President Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher must give a heartfelt speech to appease the American citizens, and loved ones of Ronald Reagan in order to commemorate, mourn, and acknowledge the former president's life. Rather than just mourning, she uses an effusive and laudatory tone to speak about everything positive the former president accomplished. Margaret Thatcher appeals to emotions and shows a personal connection to the former president, ethos in order to prove the president credible and give him praise and prove herself credible as well, and uses laudatory diction to show her compassion for the former president.

Using pathos, the appeal to emotion, Thatcher lays a heavy weight on the heart of her audience to be one with the audience, in the sense they both lost a loved one. Thatcher uses phrases such as, “We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have lost a dear friend.”(1), she says this to connect to the audience in the sense they all lost a very honorable man, who was close to them, as well as her. She wants the audience to know she is speaking as a grieving friend and not a leader of a nation. Thatcher goes as far as to call the former president, “Ronnie,”(12), she calls him this multiple times. It is a verbal representation of their relationship, it was more than just two leaders coming together, it was a friendship that was real. Then choices of wording by Thatcher create emotional constructs of character in the audience to strengthen their fondness of Reagan and their grief at his passing through diction and juxtaposition.

Thatcher also uses ethos, the appeal to credibility, to further assert her argument of Reagan's great character and cement why his death is so tragic. In her opening sentence, Thatcher declares, “We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have lost a dear friend.”(1), she includes this anaphora, the repeating of the word “great” to emphasize his character, but also to create a clear contrast in her last statement, “and I have lost a dear friend.” By calling Raegan “dear” instead of “great”, Thatcher asserts a certain jurisdiction to herself, isolating herself from the rest of the audience. She asserts her dominance and credibility once more when she says, “As Prime Minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all of our lives”(30), she does this to establish credibility, by stating she is the authority of a state, the Prime Minister, but also as a close partner to the former president. Thatcher uses these words in order to add authority and credibility to her eulogy, and so the audience is more persuaded to believe her and believe she has someone she truly misses and will be missed.

Margaret Thatcher uses a laudatory tone as well as diction in order to show her love and remembrance for Reagan. Thatcher uses words such as, “optimism”(7), “mend America’s wounded spirit”(3), and “restore the strength of the free world”(4). The speaker uses these words and phrases to express her admiration and praise for her friend and to explicitly state Ronald Reagan was a good person and had no selfish ambitions. She does this to remind the world on

Reagan's effectiveness and impact on America. This highlights his actions and wishes toward benefitting the audience’s opinion toward him, as well as gaining their approval.

Margaret Thatcher formed a sincere connection with her audience, to enlighten them on what a great man, president, and friend everyone has lost. She appealed to emotions to show

she lost someone she loved as well, appeals to ethos to assert her authority and make her eulogy more credible and more believable to her audience, as well as a laudatory tone with diction to praise and admire her dear friend. In doing all of this, she cements Reagan's legacy as a true hero and honorable figure to all.