Discourse Analysis.

Discourse Analysis.

  • Submitted By: mall18
  • Date Submitted: 05/04/2013 11:28 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1301
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 121

Lying to Live

The Discourses of Treason and Resistance were between two sides of the spectrum. The Government’s Discourse on Treason, which is the attacking side, consisted of Sir Edward Coke’s “From Speech at the trial of Father Henry Garnet” (1606); Sir Edward Coke played the role of an interrogator. The Catholic Defense of Resistance is the defensive side, which consisted of Henry Garnet’s “A Treatise of Equivocation” (c. 1598). Henry Garnet was a priest using equivocation to protect himself. Equivocation is the theory of lying with out lying. Catholic priests used partly true answers to protect themselves from the interrogators. This is how the Catholic priests resisted the English government authority’s attempt to stamp out Catholic Religion. On the other side, Sir Edward Coke created a stereotype for priests as evil traitors who lie. The Government’s Discourse on Treason is the Protestant faith trying to stamp out the Catholic faith by accusing them of Treason and un chastity. The Catholic Defense of Resistance is the Catholic priests fighting back against the claims of Treason by using equivocation to protect themselves. Equivocation protected the Catholic faith from becoming extinct but the English government used equivocation as evidence of treason and un chastity.
During the time this discourse was taking place many other significant things were going on in history. Queen Elizabeth died which led to leadership problems in England because that it’s hard to come in after such an influential person. Queen Elizabeth’s death meant good things for Catholics because she was Protestant and her goal was to make Catholicism die out. Her death gave the minority of Catholics in England a light of hope that their religion would be at large in England since the great and influential protestant Queen Elizabeth was gone.
The gunpowder plot in England, which had a major influence on this discourse, was during the same time of Queen Elizabeth’s death, in fact the...

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