The Potential Of Persuasion By Phaedrus And Life Of Demosthenes

According to Aristotle, certainly the most prominent rhetorical theorist in Ancient Greece and probably the most lasting rhetorical theorist in the Western tradition, an effective speech is made up of three “proofs”—logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is the speech’s logic, pathos is the speaker’s appeal to the audience’s emotions, and ethos, finally, is “the most authoritative form of persuasion”—one that emerges

Rhetoric is an act of persuasion. Aristotle believes that the most persuasive technique is the truth. He taught others that rhetoric is to be used for persuasion and not manipulation and that it is to be done ethically. When using rhetoric for persuasion, it is important to recognize the rhetorical triangle. The rhetorical triangle includes the speaker, the subject, and the person being addressed. This triangle also demonstrates the three modes of persuasion, logos, ethos, and pathos. The author must embody all parts of the triangle. The speaker must exhibit ethos through their credibility. The subject must encompass logos by making logical sense. The appeal to the audience must use pathos to be persuasive. When these three parts come together, a persuasive speech can be delivered. Of the three sections of the rhetorical triangle, the audience is the most important. I will demonstrate my argument of the role of audience in the rhetorical triangle throughout the essay.

In speaking of effective rhetorical persuasion, we must appeal to our target audience in a way that will get them to accept or act upon the point of view we are trying to portray. Aristotle said that we persuade others by three means: (1) by the appeal to their reason (logos); (2) by the appeal to their emotions (pathos); and (3) by the appeal of our personality or character (ethos) (Corbett and Connors 32). When Socrates, an infamous rhetorician, gave his “apology” to his fellow Athenians after being accused of atheism or not believing in the gods and corrupting the youth with similar teachings, he employed all three modes of persuasion to prove his innocence. Despite the

Rhetoric seems like a big word but the meaning is simple- persuasion. In the book Julius Caesar, Antony and Brutus, two major characters, are fantastic at persuading the Roman citizens. When one is reading the story, they might think that both have equal amounts but when you look closer, Antony has the better rhetoric strategies. In just a few short sentences, Antony convinced the people to believe that Caesar needed revenge even though he never came out and told them that. Just a couple of minutes ago, the citizens were on Brutus’s side and thought that Caesar needed to go.

To begin with, in pursuance of persuading her audience of soldiers to allow King Agamemnon to keep his stolen war prize Briseis, Speaker 1 capitalizes on the three rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The most effective appeal for her, given her audience, was ethos. First, she had to establish herself as a credible source for the sake of convincing the soldiers why her reasoning was valid. Who better to speak about the King then his trusted advisor, who not only worked with him throughout his ruling, but who also worked with his father before him and watched him grow up to be the man he is today. With the audience of soldiers in mind, they are more likely to listen to the reasoning of a person in power, who has proven themselves to be knowledgeable and can testify on behalf of a person, both personally and professionally. Soldiers are trained to follow the commands of someone in charge and if the trusted advisor says that they are capable of allowing the King to keep Briseis and in turn continue to fight the war and win without Achilles, then it can be done. Using ethos gives the speaker a platform to be heard from. Similarly, the speaker’s commanding tone of voice helped to deliver an effective speech. It would have been futile to have established herself as this person with great power had her deliverance not matched the substance of the

In this world, few skills carry with them greater power than the skill of speaking to a crowd. A good speech can shatter the dreams or raise the hopes of millions. It can raise civilizations, or it can destroy them. The right speech can change the world. And the legendary writer William Shakespeare knew this well, as we see in one of his most popular plays; Julius Caesar. In the play, this power speech has is seen most heavily in the life of Brutus, who was not only manipulated by the words of others time after time, but tried to sway others with his own words, with some success even, but was often ruined by the even stronger rhetoric of others or perhaps by other events later on.

Rhetoric is the idea of persuasion. Its basic idea is to influence someone to believe in our idea or help understand the message we are trying to deliver. In our daily life we use rhetoric in many places. This includes verbal communication as well as non-verbal communication such as body language and facial expression. In the workplace it can be used to communicate with people effectively.

What is unusual about the first section of the Gorgias is that, rather than disabuse one for claiming to know some Y or Z, Plato tried to show that rhetoric is one of moral bankruptcy. Socrates wished to know what is rhetoric and its purpose. Gorgias is consulted by Socrates since he was deemed an expert in rhetoric. Rhetoric for Gorgias is the ability to persuade others, specifically jurors in the courts, members of the Council, and citizens attending the assembly (Plato, 13, 452e). However, Socrates astutely found that other professions have the ability to persuade. Gorgias responded by stating that the ability to persuade is specifically for mass meetings (Plato, 15, 454b). Persuasion can take two paths: one that confers conviction without proper understanding and another which confers knowledge. Rhetoric as described by Gorgias is persuasion which leads to conviction. Therefore, rhetoric is an agent of persuasion to produce conviction and not to educate citizens. The nature of persuasion produced is based on opinion and not knowledge. The rhetorician is an expert in knowing what the masses want, which is pleasure. From this knowledge the rhetorician can please the crowd to gain their support. In contemporary American politics this is an indispensable ability where the citizens’ passions are used in order for the politician to be elected to public

Gorgias is a Socratic dialogue that aims to determine what rhetoric truly is. Socrates seeks the true definition of rhetoric, attempting to pinpoint the essence of rhetoric and unveil the flaws of the sophistic oratory popular in Athens at this time. The art of persuasion was widely considered necessary for political and legal advantage in classical Athens, and rhetoricians promoted themselves as teachers of this fundamental skill. Some, like Gorgias, were foreigners attracted to Athens because of its reputation for intellectual and cultural sophistication. In Gorgias, Socrates argues that philosophy is an art, whereas rhetoric is a skill based on mere experience. To Socrates, most rhetoric in practice is merely flattery. In examining the role advertising plays in our

Aristotle’s rhetorical strategies can help a writer achieve the art of persuasion. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is a perfect example of this. In

“Character may also be called the most effective means of persuasion”(“Aristotle Quotes.”) is a quote by aristotle that’s meaning can be found in the play antigone by sophocles where a girl antigone is jailed and soon later punished for burying her brothers body who went against the state. The king who put her there, Creon, puts her in a tomb for the rest of her life where she will rot for the rest of her life. However he is later told by a profit that he must save her because she was doing what she believed was true to the gods. persuasion is heavily used in this play it can be scene during the prologue when antigone is attempting to have her sister ismene help her bury their brothers body, when creon is attempting persuade his people why

Demosthenes the great orator that was revered, idolized made leader, exiled and sentenced to death on the run was discovered dead. For many years, Demosthenes was considered to have a mouth like a god. Able to find the truth and make others see reason through any smoke or obstruction covering their eyes. Demosthenes made his first great speech against the king of Persia at the age of 30. This speech was one of the first to solidify Athens belief to remain separate from the rest of the city states. It was not long after that he became somewhat of a democratice leader for athens. He then later created the first Philippic, that goaded the Athenians into action against King Philip. From then on, he had been an enemy to the son of

Cassius, Brutus, and Antony use rhetoric successfully in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, albeit each differently and for different causes. Each of these men uses his skills in rhetoric to convince each other and at some points the entire population of Rome to follow his beliefs. However, each of these men has different motivations to do so, as well as different characteristics and general worldviews.

In a world of politics, many politicians are involved in negative campaigns and as a result healthy conversation among politicians often lead to a disaster. With the endless political news cycles, rhetoric is essential for politicians to deliver their speeches. Therefore, in this essay, the style and delivery of Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention will be examined. It will be using the three main appeals of Aristotle’s mode of persuasion, the five essential rhetoric elements and the classical canons to analysed the speech and evaluate its effectiveness all of which will contribute to its persuasive power to leave a memorable impression in the minds of the audience.

In Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Aristotle argues that rhetoric should be used to portray the truth and to persuade people to follow the truth, not to manipulate the audience. According to Aristotle, rhetoric is both a natural method of persuasion and something that can be learned. Aristotle says, “ordinary people do this either at random or through practice and from acquired habit” (Rhetoric). There are three modes of persuasion, logos, ethos, and pathos, each used in a unique way. “The modes of persuasion are the only true constituents of the art: everything else is merely accessory,” according to Aristotle (Ibid). For rhetoric to be effective each mode of persuasion must be used correctly - ethos to exhibit ethics, logos