Figurative Language Jonathan Edwards famously angry speech Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, uses figurative language

and rhetorical devices to best convey his thoughts on the wrath of god and the insignificance of the sinners beneath him. The brilliantly placed metaphors and imagery invoke a strong emotional reaction from the audience and retire ideas of relaxation and security. Edwards rhythm and force connect readers to their part as a Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God and disassociate them from their role as a meaningful body. Edwards uses a dark and melancholy tone to protrude a feeling of hopelessness and despair to its readers. His tone induces sadness and reflects the anger he claims his god feels towards his people. Providing a bleak and melancholy outlook on the future of his audience reminds each person of his guilt. Edward uses his strict and critical tone to prompt the reevaluation of each individuals life. He simultaneously projects the outrage of their creator and foils the disregard and bewilderment of human beings when they hear of their gods resentment. Edwards tone is easily recognizable to be spiteful and unsympathetic. He promises that humans dreadfully provoke their everlasting destruction, (135) and uses desolate words and language to solidify his point. Edward primarily uses imagery and metaphors as a device to reflect his thoughts and concerns. He quotes Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit. (136) He uses this vivid metaphor to emphasize the predicament of hopelessness and anguish that the sinners have before them. Using the image of a vast and bottomless pit instead of simply saying that the sinner is in a lot of trouble better depicts the despair of the situation each person is in. Aside from detailing the sinners situation, he describes the sinner itself in rigid and severe terms. He characterizes the sinners as spiders that hang by a slender thread with the flames of divine wrath. (135) this illustration makes the reader feel incredibly small, insignificant and vulnerable. Finally, Edwards uses personification to make the finishing touches on his speech. He tells the reader of the consequences he believes they will face due to their mistakes and sinful behavior. He uses

murderous language to send a horrific panic through the minds of his readers. He promises that God suspends his desire to punish the sinners and keeps an arrow from being made drunk with your blood, (135) without any moral obligation. He also promises that each individual is ten thousand more times abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours, (135). The deflection of the disgust and loathing that we may feel towards a snake, onto the revulsion human beings in the eyes of god, portrays a more personal relation to help better understand gods distaste. In conclusion, Edwards celebratory language transforms his speech into a vividly imaginative experience. He succeeds in conveying the spite he claims God feels by using graphic imagery, belittling and scorning human character, making the reader feel weak and hopeless, and explaining that the matter before them is much greater and vaster than they can overcome. He promises that each sinner has nothing lay hold of to save [themselves], (136) and succeeds in making his point. It is r easonable to agree that no witness to this speech walks away with a feeling of hope, but is instead humbled and belittled, recognizing their role as a Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God.