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mirth, joy, hatred, anger, love, &c. are the same in all nations, and consequently can excite emotions in us analogous to those passions, when accompanying words which we do not understand: nay the very tones themselves, independent of words, will produce the same effects". For
Sheridan, how a message was communicated was apparently as important as the message itself. He uses the example of someone saying in a calm demeanour, "My rage is rouzed to a pitch of frenzy, I can not command it: Avoid me, be gone this moment, or I shall tear you to pieces" to show the importance of tones to a message.
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be, unless the tones of voice in which you speak come from the heart, accompanied by corresponding looks, and gestures, which naturally result from a man who speaks in earnest." Sheridan believed that elocution was not restricted to the voice, but embodied the entire person with facial expressions, gestures, posture, and movement.
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British
Education: Or, The source of the Disorders of Great Britain. Being an Essay towards proving, that the Immorality, Ignorance, and false Taste, which so generally prevail, are the natural and necessary Consequences of the present to defective System of Education. With an attempt to shew, that a
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Convinced that
English preaching was not done as well as it should be, Sheridan focused on delivery as the principal avenue toward delivering effective messages to an audience: "Before you can persuade a man into any opinion, he must first be convinced that you believe it yourself. This he can never
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Central to
Sheridan's work was his emphasis on the importance of tones to eloquence. These tones, which correlated with the expressive effects one can give to their speaking, were something Sheridan considered an important part of persuasion. He stated, "The tones expressive of sorrow, lamentation,
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Sheridan left his acting career, although he continued to manage theatre companies and occasionally play bit parts, and moved permanently to
England with his family in 1758. There, his time was spent as a teacher and an educator offering a very successful lecture course. In 1762 Sheridan published
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Published in 1762, this work is considered by many to be
Sheridan's most well-known. He established a niche for his insights through decrying the current state of public speaking, as he often did: "so low is the state of elocution amongst us, that a man who is master even of these rudiments of
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Sheridan attempted to supply the willing student with a guide to public speaking that was correct, appropriate, and successful. What he actually wanted was a total reform of the
British education system, as he saw it disregarding elocution and/or rhetorical delivery. In his work
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rhetoric, is comparatively considered, as one of excellent delivery". Besides establishing the points previously mentioned, the quote also offers a more narrow definition of rhetoric that seems to be influenced by
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199:, noted for his close friendship with Jonathan Swift, and his wife Elizabeth McFadden His parents' marriage was notoriously unhappy, and they lived apart much of the time. Thomas attended
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Sheridan's belief in the valuable effects of strong and correct public speaking was so strong that he was sure studying elocution would help ensure perfection in all of the arts. In
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had left out in his treatment of language: "(t)he nobler branch of language, which consists of the signs of internal emotions, was untouched by him as foreign to his purpose".
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in 1732–1733 but, because of his father's financial problems, he had to finish his initial education in Dublin. In 1739, he earned his BA from
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and he went on to earn his MA from
Trinity in the early 1740s. He had his début in acting when he played the title role in Shakespeare's
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revival of the Art of
Speaking, and the Study of Our Own Language, might contribute, in a great measure, to the Cure of those Evils
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in London in 1776. Two years later Thomas was appointed manager of the theatre, a position he held until 1781.
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in Dublin. Soon after, he was noted as the most popular actor in Ireland, being compared often with
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which premièred in 1738. He became the manager of the Dublin theatre sometime in the 1740s.
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He lived in London for a number of years before moving to Bath where he founded an academy
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Because of this, Sheridan set out to address what he thought
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stage actor, an educator, and a major proponent of the
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394:. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.
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179:. His work is very noticeable in the writings of
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387:. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
379:. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
484:People educated at Westminster School, London
392:Eighteenth-Century British Logic and Rhetoric
383:Bizzell, Patricia, and Bruce Herzberg, eds.
239:A General Dictionary of the English Language
19:For other people named Thomas Sheridan, see
499:Irish emigrants to Kingdom of Great Britain
163:, while his daughters were also writers -
16:Irish stage actor and educator (1719–1788)
116:Learn how and when to remove this message
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219:The Brave Irishman or Captain O'Blunder
217:. Not only an actor, but he also wrote
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191:Thomas Sheridan was the third son of
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419:Works by Thomas Sheridan
390:Howell, Wilbur Samuel.
385:The Rhetorical Tradition
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464:Irish male stage actors
407:Encyclopædia Britannica
205:Trinity College, Dublin
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153:Frances Chamberlaine
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231:A Plan of Education
345:"Sheridan, Thomas"
201:Westminster School
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