Christopher Columbus Is Who May I Ask Again?

Who is Christopher Columbus? Is he really the hero everyone has made him out to be? Or is he really just that guy who “in 1492 won the support of The Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for this enterprise of the Indies” (Stories of the Beginning of the World packet). Christopher Columbus answers these questions through letters sent to the Royals and some lady from the Spanish court. He conveys to his audience, ironically, how he is not this grand hero and how he is this imperialistic antagonist or shall we say conquistador. He conveys this through the use of rhetoric strategies. One way he establishes his contradiction to his so called heroicness is through pathos. Another way he accomplishes his antagonistic ways is through diction. But the most hilarious way that he had officiated his imperialist mindset is through irony. Hough irony happens to be the most comical of the ways that he proves his antagonistic manner; the element that will be shown first is pathos.

A hero is somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character (Encarta Dictionary). Sorry to say but what Christopher Columbus did is not an admirable quality. He conveys this in his own words. One way he accomplishes conveying what he does not have is through pathos. “I never think without weeping…they are in an exhausted state; although they are not dead, the infirmity is incurable or very extensive; let him who brought them to this state come now with a remedy…” (Christopher Columbus translated by Cecil Jane). Would a hero bring upon natives of a country disease and then speak of it as if he was not the one who started it. As if he is not the one at fault. He conveys his emotion of sadness through saying that he does, indeed, cry when he thinks of the natives. But is that enough? He should come forth with the remedy in which he speaks of. And what would be a good remedy? His retirement or draw back from the island of Hispaniola that he so rudely renamed Espanola. He explains how they are in an “exhausted state” but yet “not dead”. This shows how they were ill, sick, and to the point of death. If they were not at the point of death, then he would not have mentioned it. But still he wept for them. Meaning though Native Americans started getting sick by the numbers all around him and him and his men were in perfect shape, he stayed there and wept. Was Christopher Columbus that ignorant? But that is not the only time that his audience had to think of that question. Christopher Columbus showed his antagonistic ignorance through diction.

An arrangement of words could easily make you look like something that one did not want them to. Christopher Columbus himself has proved this. Christopher is now known as a protagonist but through the letters that he had written to the royals and some lady from the Spanish court, he contradicts this. He helps convey this through diction. “They traveled three days’ journey and found an infinity of small hamlets and people without number, but nothing of importance.” (Christopher Columbus translated by Cecil Jane). This conveys how Christopher Columbus, our hero, thought these natives, people actual people, were nothing of importance. How selfless right? This passage also conveys how there were many people there before Columbus and how he still felt they were nothing of importance. Even though they could have helped him explore the land, but no since they were not Europeans they were nothing of importance. This provides the proof of the ignorant imperialistic attitude Christopher Columbus had. But he would not have seemed this way is he would have worded the previous passage correctly. He could have said they traveled three days’ journey found nothing of importance except, an infinity of hamlets and people without number. That way he would have seemed like he cared for people. But no it was almighty Chris Columb. Was he, once again, just that ignorant? But diction was not the only way Christopher Columbus showed his antagonistic ignorance. He also conveyed those mannerisms through irony.

What one expects sometimes comes around and bites them in the butt. Christopher Columbus shows this in his letters. He conveys his antagonistic imperialistic mindset through his use of rhetoric strategies. One technique he uses is irony. “As I know that you will be pleased at the great victory with which Our Lord has crowned my voyage, I write this to you, from which you will learn how in thirty days, I passed from the Canary islands to the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious king and queen our sovereigns gave to me.” (Christopher Columbus translated by Cecil Jane). This conveys how Christopher Columbus gloated at what he thought an successful voyage. Little did he know that his voyage was not the great success he thought it to be. But, in fact, he had landed on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. He had not reached the Indies, land of spices. His expedition was not triumphant. He also stated how the Royals must have been pleased with him. However, Columbus probably wasn’t expecting to be imprisoned and trialed by the same Royals that had to be pleased with him. Not only was his journey a failure at the time, but he also got imprisoned for his failure to manage the trip correctly. This is why irony happens to be one of the most hilarious techniques used by Christopher Columbus, this is only an opinion.

So what exactly is a hero? Simple, it is not Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus conveyed his antagonistic and imperialist outlook through his letters. These letters included rhetoric techniques that hinted on his frame of mind. One of these rhetoric techniques were pathos. Another one of those rhetoric strategies were diction. But the most hilarious of the rhetoric methods was, in fact, irony. So what is one left with when they think of Christopher Columbus: the one who did not accomplish what he had started? How about some words of wisdom to conclude who Christopher Columbus really is: “Done in the Indies in the island of Jamaica, on the seventh of July, in the year one thousand five hundred and three.” (Christopher Columbus translated by Cecil Jane).