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The Unbounded Reach of Rhetoric Essay

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The Unbounded Reach of Rhetoric
In the year of 1938, during the Nuremburg Conference, a man stands up to deliver the closing speech. This speech is not particularly as well known or as significant as many of his other speeches, but the words of this thin and paunchy man are strong and resolute. He states, “When the question is still put to us why National Socialism fights with such fanaticism against the Jewish element in Germany, why it pressed and still presses for its removal then the answer can only be: Because National Socialism desires to establish a true community of the people…. Because we are National Socialists, we can never suffer an alien race which has nothing to do with us to claim the leadership of our working people …show more content…

In Book One of the Persian Expedition, Clearchus, a general of Cyrus, handles a potential mutiny from the Greek mercenary soldiers when they become suspicious of Cyrus’s motives. “At first Clearchus tried to force his own soldiers to go forward, but they threw stones at him and at his baggage animals as soon as they attempted to make a start. Clearchus was very nearly stoned to death on this occasion (Warner 65).” Realizing that force was not going to work, he appeals to the method of rhetoric by making a speech and having two of his men deliver a pre-constructed speech. He coyly feigns loyalty to the soldiers while he simultaneously makes it seem that going against Cyrus would be impossible. Although still suspicious, the soldiers reluctantly decide to go with and fight for Cyrus. This scene depicts rhetoric overcoming brute force in the promotion of violence. Rhetoric is a form of action and without it many of the events in the novel would have either never occurred or gone quite differently. In the PanHellenic dialogues by Xenophon, the army is not only motivated to continue on in their endeavors but he also clears their conscious about committing barbaric acts. This can been seen when he addresses the army and says, “But when we come to a place where we are given no opportunities to buy food, then, whether it is native country or Greek country, we take our own supplies and do this not out of wanton aggression, but from necessity (Warner 240).”
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