In Lord Chesterfield’s letter to his young son he uses two rhetorical strategies to help shape the format of his letter in a way to benefit his son and the advice he wants and needs.
A rhetorical strategy that is used in the writing of this letter is description. Description is detail sensory perceptions of a person place or thing paying a prominent role in the essay or in this case a letter. The prominent role in this letter would be Chesterfield and his son. Lord Chesterfield talks about his views on life and how is son could use them in his own life experiences. By using this rhetorical strategy it reveals that Lord Chesterfield values his family, this is shown because of how he is giving quality advice to his son who may or may not listen to the advice that he is being given. An example of description in the letter written would be the letter as a whole. The letter is written to Chesterfield’s son, and Chesterfield talks about both him and his son.
One other rhetorical strategy used in the construction of this letter would be cause and effect analysis. Cause and effect analysis is analyzing why something happens and describing the consequences of a string of events. Chesterfield tells his son to learn from his fathers mistakes in lines twenty-three to twenty-seven he states, “Let my experiences supply your want of it, and clear your way in the progress of your youth, of those thorns and briars which scratched and disfigured me in the course of mine.” From this statement, and using cause and effect analysis it shows that Chesterfield values how life experiences can make for good advice. Lord Chesterfield is explaining to his son to not make poor choices in life and to learn from the mistakes in his fathers life.
The Essay on A Letter to His Son- Chesterfield, Ap Question
This passage is by no means a message of simplicity, and good intentioned writing for his son to be taken lightly. Chesterfield reflects his own values and morals in these short paragraphs, in attempts to remind his son of his responsibilities for him to “weigh and consider”. Chesterfield’s morals and values are clearly portrayed by his use of strategies such as understatement, contradiction, ...
In conclusion, the two rhetorical strategies used in the writing of this letter were description and cause and effect analysis. By using those two rhetorical strategies you can tell that Lord Chesterfield values his family, and he also values how life experiences can make for good advice to give to others.
