Download Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis
Using the Joliffe Framework Design
Rhetoric
• Rhetoric, as a term, has a multitude of meanings. Starting
with the ancient Greeks, each generation of civilization has
crafted new definitions, explanations, and meanings for this
term. Rhetoric is a Remediated term.
• While this may make it sound impossible to define the term,
there is one thing each definition has in common . . . Aristotle.
Rhetoric
• In @ 350 BC, Aristotle defined rhetoric as the
art of persuasion using all available means.
• In other words: All Communication is Rhetoric.
• This definition is the root of all other
definitions; therefore, for our purposes, it will
serve as the foundation for our study of
rhetoric.
Oral vs. Written
• Oratory – oral rhetoric, often thought to be the more superior
form of rhetoric.
• Why?
• Written – is what it says it is, often thought to be the weaker
form of rhetoric?
• Why?
• Is this still the case?
Rhetorical Situation
Rhetorical Situation: Exigence
• Problem, incident, or situation causing the writer to write the
piece
• What prompted the writing of this piece?
• Most likely, the piece would not have been written if it had
not been for this.
Rhetorical Situation: Audience
An audience has either an:
1. Immediate response
2. Intermediate response (think about later)
So, which type of response does the author want from the
audience?
In this way, the audience shapes the rhetoric.
No audience is a tabula rosa.
Rhetorical Situation: Purpose
The purpose is developed as a small focus for the exigence, a
focus that can be tackled in one persuasive act.
Moreover, the purpose is developed with the audience in mind.
Appeals
Appeals: Logos
• An appeal to logic
• An attempt to persuade the reader by presenting a logical
argument
• Why is this appeal important?
• If, then statements
• Syllogistic inferences/conclusions
• Deductive reasoning
Appeals: Logos
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The central appeal of anything is that it must be logical.
Without logic, nothing that follows is reasonable.
You must consider the logos within the author’s writing.
That being said, there is one appeal that may be used to
override logic and allow untruths to become truths.
Appeals: Ethos
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The ethical appeal
An attempt to persuade based on moral grounds
Right vs. Wrong
Good vs. Evil
Why is this appeal important?
Appeals: Pathos
• An appeal to emotion
• An attempt to persuade the reader by causing them to
respond to the way an issue/topic makes them feel
• Can invoke bias or prejudice
• Uses non-logical appeals
• Informal language
• Why is this appeal important?
Appeals: Pathos
• The true power, the true strength of a rhetorician is their
ability to begin with logic and use the pathos of the audience
to insert whatever “truths” will work to bring the audience to
the speaker’s side.
• Ethos, while often thought by new rhetoricians to be a
powerful, logical appeal is actually an appeal that relies on
pathos for its strength. After all, what is beliefs, truths, trusts,
and values without the emotional tie that allows them to
become logically true?
Tone
• You must understand Logos, Ethos, and Pathos to understand
the Tone
• Logos, Ethos, and Pathos all contribute to determining the
Tone
• If you don’t recognize the Tone of the piece, you miss
everything that follows
What is Tone?
• The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character,
or audience
• Conveyed through the author’s:
 Choice of words (diction)
 Word order (syntax)
 Detail, imagery, and language (figurative language)
Organization/Structure/Form
• Always work chronologically when analyzing a piece of
literature.
• You cannot identify shifts in tone and other elements if you
don’t look at it chronologically.
Surface Features
Surface Features: Diction
• What is diction?
• Diction is word choice intended to convey a certain effect
 To communicate ideas and impressions
 To evoke emotions
 To convey your views of truth to the reader
Surface Features: Syntax
• Syntax is:
The arrangement and order of words in a sentence
Surface Features: Syntax
• Sentence Structure
• Short sentences are often emphatic, passionate, or flippant
• Longer sentences often suggest the writer’s thoughtful
response
• Arrangement of Ideas in a Sentence
• Are they set out in a particular way for a purpose?
• Arrangement of Ideas in a Paragraph
 Is there evidence of any pattern or structure?
Surface Features:
Imagery & Figurative Language
• The use of language to appeal to the senses
Simile, metaphor
Allusion
Alliteration
Etc.
Surface Features
• Consider how surface features contribute to the message
• Syntactical elements are usually there for either parallelism or
difference
• All of those multisyllabic terms are there to show how things
in the piece are the same or different (antithesis, parallelism,
etc.)
• Figurative language is metaphorical; therefore, it makes
abstract things concrete