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The Fundamentals of Rhetoric. Think about It …. Write about a time when you were persuaded to buy something through an advertisement OR describe a memorable advertisement. The Rhetorical Situation. What does rhetoric mean to you?. What is rhetoric?.
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Think about It … Write about a time when you were persuaded to buy something through an advertisement OR describe a memorable advertisement.
The Rhetorical Situation What does rhetoric mean to you?
What is rhetoric? • According to Aristotle, rhetoric is “the faculty of discovering, in any particular case, all of the available means of persuasion.” • Comes from the Greek term “rhetor,” which means “orator” • To put it simply, rhetoric is the art of oral and written persuasion.
Rhetoric is based on … 1st - Analyzing the rhetorical situation 2nd – Applying the appeals to reason
What do the arrows mean? Whenever a reader reads a literary text, there should be an interaction between: • The reader • The writer • The text itself
Questions to ask … • What do we know about the writer? • What kind of audience is the writer targeting? • What does the writer assume about her/his audience? • What is the writer’s subject? • What is the writer’s message?
Logos : consistency & Logic • Logos is the appeal to reason. • Is the text reasonable? Do we buy it? • How does the writer make her/his argument reasonable? • Could be presented in the form of facts, case studies, statistics, experiments, logical reasoning, etc.
Ethos : credibility & trust • Ethos is the appeal to credibility. • The demonstration that the speaker is credible, good-willed, and knowledgeable about their subjects. It’s the connection between the speaker’s thinking and the reader’s own ethical or moral beliefs. • How does the writer establish her/himself an authority on his/her subject?
Pathos: emotions & imagination • Pathos is the speaker’s appeal to emotion. • What emotion(s) does the writer wish her/his audience to feel? What emotions do YOU feel? Did the writer intend for you to feel the way you do? Was anything memorable? Why was it memorable? • The play on emotions of love, pity, greed, lust, revenge, etc.
Read the following statement: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” ~ JFK How does the statement appeal to: • Logos? • Ethos? • Pathos?
The Three Elements of Style Diction Syntax Tone
The Three Elements of Style • Diction: Word choices • Syntax: Word order, sentence and paragraph structure, creative use of punctuation • Tone: speaker’s attitude toward her/his subject as created through diction and syntax • What five words in the text stand out the most? • What do those words suggest about the writer’s tone? • How did the writer structure the text? Did s/he do anything creative or different?