A speech can be defined as an act of delivering formal utterances from the speaker to the audience. In this case, there are different types of speeches which include informative speech; persuasive and acceptance speeches among others. This assignment mainly gives an analysis of the first South African President Nelson Mandela’s speech at John Mark Ministries in South Africa (Williamson, pp. 190-191).
It can be argued that in his speech; the South African President, Nelson Mandela thought sensibly about the Christian belief. In this case, he gave a persuasive speech to the Christians urging them to pray hard so as to serve the world. From this speech it can be deduced that, Mandela who was imprisoned for about twenty seven years; contemplated intensely, read much and tried to comprehend the human nature. It can be argued that, Mandela in his speech convinced the South African Christians to have a strong faith in God and be at peace with one another (Williamson, pp. 190-191).
It is of importance to note that in his speech; Mandela was very sincere and direct especially when he was talking about the light that is found within the human soul. By this, he was referring to the hope and love that results to human’s ever continuing development and the precise comprehension of human being. It can be argued that, from Mandela’s speech; life is meaningless in the absence of hope and love. It should be noted that, his speech was full of powerful words as it can be seen in the statement that; one should be freed from his fear first, which would in turn involuntarily liberates others. Based on this, he urged South Africans not to be too much powerful beyond measure since it is the greatest fear that Africans have (Williamson 190-191).
It is of importance to note that, Mandela was using the English language when giving this speech that could be understood by many people not only in South Africa but also world wide. Further, Mandela convinced the Christians to humble themselves like children as it is seen from his statement that; all people are supposed to shine like children. It should be noted that, Mandela’s speech was meant to encourage Africans that; they have adequate resources and blessings as they are children of God. Additionally, his purpose of communicating this message to the South African Christians was to convince them that; they were created to show the magnificence of God within them (Williamson, pp. 190-191).
It can be argued that, Nelson Mandela was addressing to all people both men and women irrespective of the age bracket. In this case, he gave his speech in a church setting since his main theme was spiritual oriented. Based on this, Nelson Mandela used a language that could be understood by all kinds of people as can be seen from the minimum number of vocabularies he used. On the other hand, his voice was audible enough to be heard by all the audience and his body language expressed what he said. It should be noted that, Mandela involved the audience in his speech by asking rhetorical questions which helped the audience to clearly understand what was being said (Williamson, pp. 190-191).
To wind up, Nelson Mandela’s spiritual speech to the South African Christians was convincing and persuasive. In this case, the language used; both verbal and non verbal clearly outlined the theme of the speech.
References
Williamson, Marianne. “Nelson Mandela’s Speech.” Return to Love. 1992. pp. 190-191. Web.