Genre
Political Non-fiction, Philosophy
Setting and Context
18 Century
Narrator and Point of View
Thomas Paine is the first-person narrator.
Tone and Mood
Drastic, activist, stimulating, and provocative
Protagonist and Antagonist
'Man' is the protagonist. Mr. Burke, who is the addressee, is the antagonist due to his lack of support for the French Revolution.
Major Conflict
Divergent outlooks relating to human rights and the French Revolution.
Climax
Revolutions (such as the French Revolution) are climaxes in the struggle for human rights.
Foreshadowing
Paine foreshadows that, “There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to the “end of time.” Pain’s prediction surmises that no human leader or government can lead or oppress others for eternity.
Understatement
Mr. Burke is criticized for understating the worth of human rights for “the people of England.”
Allusions
Paine appeals to historical allusions (The French Revolution) and legal allusions.
Imagery
Despotic governments and tyrannical monarchies oppress people to the degree that the oppressed resort to revolutions.
Laws are integral in apposite government and conservancy of human rights.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“Sans ceremonie” implies devoid of a ceremony. ‘Garde du Corps' means bodyguard. Crown denotes hereditary, monarchical power.
Personification
France is personified by being referred to ‘her.’
