This candidate thesis aims to identify the rhetorical strategies Winston Churchill employs in his speech ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’, focusing specifically on how Churchill’s speech attempts to shape social reality, rather than measuring its actual effects on the audience. Drawing on Aristotle’s concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos, the study analyses how Churchill establishes credibility, regulates emotions, and frames resistance as the only rational and moral course of action. In addition, a metaphorical discourse analysis is applied to examine how metaphors such as “we” versus “the enemy” shape collective identity and social norms under crisis. 

The study further situates Churchill’s rhetoric within his literary background and rhetorical self awareness, drawing on his early essay The Scaffolding of Rhetoric to contextualize stylistic choices such as rhythm, repetition, accumulation of argument, and analogy. Influences from Shakespearean drama and historical narrative are shown to enhance the persuasive force and emotional resonance of the speech. By integrating classical rhetoric with theories of social reality, including perspectives from Boroditsky, Cassirer and Castoriadis the study demonstrates how political rhetoric functions not only as a tool of persuasion but as a mechanism for constructing social order, moral obligation, and collective resolve in times of crisis.