The Speech of Polly Baker Response Essay - 367 Words.
In Benjamin Franklin’s “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” Franklin uses wit to effectively argue that the sexist punishments of laws against having children out of wedlock are absurd by appealing to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos through the voice of Polly Baker (Franklin, 242-44).Benjamin Franklin creates this powerful and intelligent character in the fiction story, The Speech of Miss Polly Baker. At the beginning, Polly Baker starts out humbly in response to being accused of giving birth to a bastard child for the fifth time. She asks the jury to listen to what she has to say.The Speech of Polly Baker Free Essay, Term Paper and Book Report Benjamin Franklin s purpose for The Speech of Polly Baker appeared to be a woman asking for equal rights. She did not want to be punished again for having a child. She has taken care of her other four children and does not think that she would be punished or whipped.
The speech of Polly Baker Benjamin wrote the speech in the perspective of a mother of five who was facing a jury. She had been accused of fornication and consequently the birth of five children. The children, the youngest being very young were all the proof the jury needed to convict her.Benjamin Franklin develops Polly Baker into a sympathetic character by constantly using negative diction like “punishment, whipping, sin, etc.” Polly mentions everything she has to go through for having a child when she is not married, thus allowing the reader to see the extent of the issue.
The Speech of Miss Polly Baker Printed in The General Advertiser, April 15, 1747. When Franklin wrote The Speech of Miss Polly Baker is not now known, though 1746 is a likely date. 5 How a copy found its way to London is also a matter for speculation.
