Rhetoric Methods for Speeches
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Rhetoric is the study of effective
speaking and writing.
• "That form of speaking which has the intention of
making an impact upon, persuading, or
influencing a public audience."
• Rhetorical devices are frequently used
consciously in advertising and in public speeches
to create an effect.
• Rhetoric may be used to present a case in the
most effective way, showing verbal dexterity. The
danger of rhetoric, with its intention to persuade,
is that the speaker may "stretch" the truth and
effectively present a worthless or immoral cause.
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Rhetorical Devices
• Onomatopoeia (sounds suggest meaning)
• Metaphor (a thing is spoken of as being that which it only
resembles)
• Syllogism (a logical argument in three parts - two premises and a
conclusion which follows necessarily from them)
• Irony (deliberate use of words to mean the opposite of their literal
meaning)
• Allegory (a symbolic narrative)
• Isocolon (the use of clauses or phrases of equal length)
• Antithesis (words balanced in contrast)
• Anaphora (repetition of a word at the beginning of consecutive
sentences)
• Hyperbole (exaggeration)
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Examples
• Isocolon: "With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in
marriage" Claudius, Act 1 Scene 2 of Hamlet
• Antithesis: John Dryden's description in The Hind and
the Panther: “Too black for heaven, and yet too white
for hell.”
• Syllogism: All men are mortal. All Greeks are men.
Therefore, all Greeks are mortal.
• Rhetorical irony: Kitty and Lydia Bennett walked to
Meryton “three or four times a week to pay their duty
to their aunt and to a milliners’ shop just over the way”
in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
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Socrates’ Two Principles of Rhetoric
1. The orator should offer a preliminary
definition of the nature of his topic
2. He should divide his subject into its
component parts.
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Cicero’s Principles of Rhetoric
The orator ...
• must first hit upon what to say;
• then manage and marshal his discoveries, not merely
in an orderly fashion but with a discriminating eye for
the exact weight of each argument;
• next go on to array them in the adornments of style;
• after that guard them in his memory;
• and in the end deliver them with effect and charm."
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Skills of Rhetoric: Invention
1. ETHOS or proof deriving from the character of
the speaker himself.
the tone of the speech should establish the
speaker's virtue and moral worth.
2. PATHOS The emotions induced in the audience.
the audience begins to feel that the speaker
must be right and is won over to his side.
3. LOGICAL PROOF Demonstration of the case by
means of argument such as syllogisms, examples
and maxims.
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Skills of Rhetoric: Arrangement
1.
INTRODUCTION to put the audience in the right frame of mind e.g.
"Friends, Romans and countrymen...“
NARRATION a short statement of the facts of the case
PROPOSITION the narrator states succinctly the facts of the case.
DIVISION the main headings under which the subject will be treated.
PROOF the orator marshals all the arguments on his side of the case,
giving points in ascending order of importance leading to a climax.
This is the core of the argument.
REFUTATION the orator attempts to answer or discredit the
arguments advanced against him.
CONCLUSION
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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•
•
summing up
amplification - an emphatic statement of the speaker's position, often
invoking "commonplaces" to move the audience to indignation or
enthusiasm.
an appeal to the audience's tender feelings
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Skills of Rhetoric: Memory
• The speech should appear unpremeditated
and should whenever possible be delivered
from memory.
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Skills of Rhetoric: Delivery
• Use the appropriate gestures and facial
expressions - the wagging finger of
exhortation, the arms and hands spread wide
in appeal...
• The tone of voice may be conversational,
intimate or energetic according to subject
matter, and given with varied amplification
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Skills of Rhetoric: Style
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
PURITY and correctness of language
CLARITY and intelligibility
DECORUM and appropriateness
ORNAMENT, figures of speech, metaphors, prose rhythm
QUESTIONS
•
•
•
•
Interrogatio - a question which requires no answer because it
expresses a truth which cannot be denied.
Rogatio - a question to which we immediately supply our own
answer
Quaesitio - a string of questions uttered in rapid succession for
the sake of emotional emphasis
Percontatio - an enquiry in a tone of bewilderment or
amazement and allowing no satisfactory or easy reply.
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Examples of Rhetoric in Practice Saint Crispin’s
Day speech from Henry V (IV.iii 18-67)
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Examples of Rhetoric in Practice
• Saint Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V (IV.iii
18-67)
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jXFnQUU7yg
• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Been to the
Mountaintop” speech
– http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlki
vebeentothemountaintop.htm
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