Pathos

1. Pathos An appeal to an audience’s sense of identity, their self-interest, and their emotions.

2. Pathos is Powerful • Pathos may be the strongest of the rhetorical appeals. We are very easily swayed by our feelings, more than our logic most of the time! • This means pathos is powerful for the rhetor, but dangerous for an audience.

3. Identify with your audience • How do you relate to this audience? (Need to analyze the audience!) • How can you “feel their pain”? • Common interests • Common fears • Common values • Common spaces

4. How to appeal to emotion • Create the emotion! • Describe the scene or event • Use powerful, clear words and details. • Employ values like justice, fairness, etc.

5. Things to Consider with Pathos • What information does my audience already have and/or what do I need to give them to help them make decisions on my issue? • What interest do they have in this subject? How can I make them interested in this subject? • What is important to my audience? Is that also important to me? What’s in common?

6. More things . . . • What are the hopes and goals of my audience? How do those relate to my subject? • What values does my audience hold? What do they fear? Cherish? What arouses their pity or anger? • What are some particularly provocative images or words or examples that will get this audience going?

7. One more thing • How does my audience imagine itself? Good? Religious? Philanthropic? Open-minded? Fair? Democratic? Republican? Logical? Creative?