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An Example Of Genus Deliberativum Essay

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Out of the three genus causarum: genus deliberativum, genus indiciale, and genus demonstrativum, I argue that Williamson’s speech is an example of genus deliberativum. According to Roland Barthes’ rhetorical tree, there are six attributes assigned to the oratorical genres: audience, end, subject, time, reasoning, commonplaces. For the deliberative genre, the audience is "members of an assembly,” the end is “to persuade/dissuade,” the subject is “useful/harmful,” the time is “future,” the reasoning is “exempla,” and the commonplaces is “possible/impossible” (Barthes 72).
In this case, Williamson’s goal was to persuade the members of New Zealand’s parliament, or member of an assembly, to accept the outcome of marriage equality bill (especially those who oppose it.) In terms of time, Williamson alluded to the fact that the bill had already passed. However, he used the future tense to describe the projected effects of this bill. He presented his argument to this body of deciders and argued that the bill was a reasonable and useful piece of legislation that was not going to harm anyone, but would improve the lives of the LGBTQ community. By using examples in his speech to express various concerns about the bill, he was able to challenge the reasonableness of the arguments against the bill and therefore make his point clear that “the world will carry on.”

2. A telos is the ultimate goal or aim. The telos of the SAIH video is to show how stereotypes and the

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