"I am Prepared to die Nelson Mandela"

     Within Nelson Mandela's speech entitled " I am Prepared to die", Mandela speaks aggressively on the evils of apartheid. This speech was given while Mandela was on trial. He firmly states that if he were to die  fighting to abolish apartheid, then his death would be justified. He starts his speech by listing a number of demands of the African people. He says, "As Africans we want better wage, we want work of which we are capable of and not what the government deems us capable of, we want a share in the whole of South Africa, We, above all want equal political rights. Mandela is using the anaphora figure of speech by inserting the word "we" at the start of each phrase. This is significant because it suggests unity between the black South Africans. Mandela is also using the figure of speech Asyndeton of which portrays style by eliminating conjunctions. He incorporates this figure of speech not to list a group of various demands,  but to individually express demands that in his opinion were necessary to be adhered to. Not connecting these demands with conjunctions suggests the importance of each demand as individually stated. The style of which these demands are delivered reflects Mandela's stern and authoritative tone. He speaks with a cadence and rhythm without interruption and keeps his voice low for the majority of the speeches duration. His rhythmic and cadence structure of voice demonstrates the rhetorical term actio of which in this case specifically describes his voice variations. He seems to do this in order to acquire the full attention of the audience. He makes it so they must be  a receptive  audience in order to fully understand what exactly he is saying. His purpose of the speech is not to show his willingness to fight and die  for the abolition of injustices within  apartheid but to instill the passion in others to be willing to do the same. For this he uses the Middle style or movendi style in order to move his audience emotionally. The speech is of the epideictic form of rhetoric which means that the oratory is used to inspire the audience. He is also forensically defending himself though he wants his speech to be more a testament to the current state of evils within the  South African practice of Apartheid. Within the speech, Mandela says that he doesn't necessarily want his words to reflect his individual trial only, but he wants it to reflect the issue of abolishing apartheid. He goes on to say that this issue is bigger than himself so he is not entirely  forensically defending himself in court but he is standing up for justice and equality for all people.