Essay

ENG 101 M. S. S. Johnson

Rhetorical Analysis Definition The OED defines rhetoric as: “The art of using language so as to persuade or influence others; the body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer in order that he may express himself with eloquence” (“rhetoric”). “rhetoric, n” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 19 Feb. 2009. To discuss someone’s rhetoric or rhetorical style is essentially to discuss the techniques he or she uses to be persuasive. A good rhetorician can make us believe. Therefore, part of being a good rhetorician is being able to accurately predict the audience’s responses and to persuade them according to one’s own purposes. Therefore, part of being a good rhetorical analyst lies in discovering how the rhetorician is managing his or her audience. In other words, when we think about rhetoric, we concentrate less on what an author or speaker is saying and more on how she or he says it. Instead of looking at the message of an essay, for instance, we would look more at the essay’s design. Rhetorical Context There are six basic elements that make up the rhetorical context: Author, Purpose, Audience, Time, Place, Medium. Together, these elements make up the “situation” surrounding any particular piece of writing or speaking. When setting about to write a convincing argument, a rhetorician has to consider each of these elements. They easily translate into questions:

• How will I present myself as the author/speaker? • What is my purpose in writing/speaking? • Who is my audience? • Is this the right moment for my argument? • Where should this argument be made? • In what format should I design my argument?

Now, it’s simple enough to turn these questions around for the analyst. When we approach a text with the intention of analyzing its rhetoric, we’ll ask similar questions:

• Who is the author? • What is the author’s purpose or goal? • To what audience is the author writing? • When was the text written and distributed? • Where was the text written and distributed? • What format did the author choose for the argument?

And, naturally, there are lots of follow-up questions to be asked once you’ve covered the basics. To give one example: We might start with “to what audience is the author writing?” but then follow up with a whole series of questions about the audience: Is there more than one audience, and if so, how might the author address each audience differently? How educated is the audience to which the author writes? Can

ENG 101 M. S. S. Johnson

the author count on the audience basically agreeing, or is convincing audience members likely to be an uphill battle (is it a sympathetic audience? Is it antagonistic? Ambivalent?)? Is it an audience of other experts? How much attention can the author expect the audience to pay to the text? And we could go on, of course. Each time we ask a question like this, we must then follow it up a question that returns to the text: How is the answer reflected in the author’s rhetorical choices? The Three Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, Logos “Rhetoric” has to do with persuasion, and persuasion is the method by which one can effectively argue – that one’s ideas are legitimate, good, or better than others; that someone should think in a different way; that someone should behave in a particular way; that someone should take action of a specific sort. Aristotle examined the general ways that people persuade others and determined three broad categories of persuasion, or three “appeals”: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos, or an ethical appeal, has to do with the character of the rhetor (speaker or writer). If rhetors are credible – by reputation, experience, intelligence, charisma – then they will be more able to persuade audiences. If audience members respect the rhetor, then they will be more willing to listen, to accept what the rhetor is communicating. Ethos has to do with the credibility, likeability, respectability, and authority of the rhetor. Ethos is about the rhetor’s personality, the worth-value of the rhetor as a person and speaker/writer. Pathos, or an emotional appeal, has to do with the way rhetors read and even manipulate audience members’ emotions (both “positive” and “negative”). Telling a personal story of triumph or tragedy can help to form a personal bond between the rhetor and audience, to help the audience identify with the rhetor, to see an argument her or his way. Using figurative language rather than dry facts can be used to illustrate an argument more effectively or enhance its power. Pathos enables rhetors to influence audiences to feel with them, in addition to merely understanding what they’re communicating. Logos, or a logical appeal, is just what it sounds like: persuading audience members through reason, through logical thinking. Logic involves the lucidity of the rhetor’s thinking and the easy accessibility (by audience members) of it. Logic is consistent. It makes use of evidence to “prove” or “make plausible” a case. Such an appeal enables the rhetor to convince audience members through “good sense” and rational, careful consideration. Aristotle may have broken up the types of rhetorical appeals in order to examine them more carefully, but that does not mean that they are always so neatly divided in real-life rhetorical situations. Often, even a single sentence will use more than one type of appeal. We could even say that, to one degree or another, the appeals may be impossible to entirely separate. For example, if one makes a successful logical appeal—that is, if one shows that there is sound logic behind a claim—one will automatically have increased ethos (in showing oneself to be a logical person, and therefore more trustworthy). The key, then, when analyzing the rhetoric of a particular piece of a text is not to look for it to have a single kind of appeal, but to look for its main type of appeal first, then to follow up with other rhetorical effects the piece might have. Failed rhetorical appeals can have disastrous effects. For example, pathetic appeals are intended to raise particular emotions. If the reader does not feel those emotions, but instead realizes that she or he is being emotionally manipulated, she or he may become angry or simply turn away from the text altogether. Do not oversimplify the appeals.