English 505
Rhetorical Theory
Session Fifteen Notes
Goals/Objectives:
1) To begin to understand the Dramatism theory of Kenneth Burke
2) To begin to understand how Burke views the use of Symbols
3) To begin to understand how Burke views the notion of Guilt
4) To begin to understand how Burke views the notion of Hierarchy
5) To begin to understand how Burke system of The Pentad
6) To begin to understand Burke’s view of The Redemption of Guilt
Questions/Main Ideas (Please
write these down as you think
of them)
Kenneth Burke
Language is a central focus of rhetorical theory for Burke
Language – and other types of symbol use – are viewed as a far more powerful force on
human interaction than had previously been believed
Kenneth Burke
“Rhetoric is rooted in an essential function of language itself, a function that is wholly
realistic, and is continually born anew; the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing
cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols”
Kenneth Burke
Burke’s theories and the theories related to it are often called Dramatism
The study of how language and other symbol systems create the rhetorical worlds in which
we live
Kenneth Burke
Burke defined the central tenet of the theory as follows:
“Dramatism is a method of analysis and a corresponding critique of terminology designed
to show that the most direct route to the study of human relations and human motives is via
a methodical inquiry into cycles or clusters of terms and their functions.”
Kenneth Burke
In other words, Dramatism is interested in how language functions to create and maintain
communities of individuals
The Nature of Rhetoric
For Burke, the influence of language goes far beyond its persuasiveness
Kenneth Burke
He viewed rhetoric as creating realities in which we must operate
He explained that we use rhetoric to navigate our way through those rhetorically created
social structures and rules
Kenneth Burke
“And however important to us is the tiny sliver of reality each of us has experienced
firsthand, the whole overall “picture” is but a construct of our symbol systems. To meditate
on this fact until one sees its full implications is much like peering over the edge of things
into an ultimate abyss.
Kenneth Burke
And doubtless that’s one reason why, though man is typically the symbol-using animal, he
clings to a kind of naïve verbal realism that refuses to realize the full extent of the role
played by symbolicity in his notions of reality.”
Kenneth Burke
For Burke, the essential difference between humans and animals is that humans have the
capacity to create, use, and misuse symbols
Kenneth Burke
Happily, Burke provides us with the key for understanding his theory of Dramatism through
his definition of humans (1966)
He revised this several times, ultimately composing it in poetic form
Kenneth Burke
Being bodies that learn language
thereby becoming wordlings
humans are
the symbol-making, symbol-using
symbol-misusing animal
Kenneth Burke
inventor of the negative
separated from our natural condition by instruments of our own making
goaded by the spirit of hierarchy
and rotten with perfection
Kenneth Burke
We begin to understand Burke, then, by understanding these parts
Symbol Use
Implicit in our symbol use is the concept of naming
Kenneth Burke
When we use symbols, we identify a person, place, object or event in such a way as to
distinguish it from something else
We can never be completely objective when we do this because language is not neutral
Kenneth Burke
Burke suggested that naming is a “magical act” that only approximates the relationship
between the named and what it truly represents
Burke explained that symbols are “screens” that separate us from a nonverbal world
Kenneth Burke
As a result, our names contain “attitudes” toward the objects of what we name
These attitudes suggest our position toward the object as well as suggest how others should
view the object
Kenneth Burke
Examples: various ideological positions in contemporary cultural debates:
pro-life vs. pro-choice
Each label suggests a way of looking at the issue
Kenneth Burke
Each label also suggests a way of viewing the other side: pro-death/anti-life vs. antichoice
Therefore, given the capacity to use symbols, we also have the capacity to misuse symbols,
and do so quite regularly
Kenneth Burke
Sexual harassment is an example
It can occur solely through the use of symbols. Physical contact is not necessary
Kenneth Burke
We misuse symbols to exert power to unfairly manipulate circumstances in an illegitimate
and unjust way
Negative Symbols
A particular type of symbol is the negative representing the idea of “no” or “not”
Kenneth Burke
The negative is inherent in symbol use
Before we were able to use symbols, humans could only make gestures which couldn’t
accommodate the idea of “no”
Kenneth Burke
As humans began to develop symbols to represent abstract objects, they also developed the
idea of “no” or “not”
Burke believed that the negative serves definitional and moral functions in rhetoric
Kenneth Burke
When we define things, we define them in terms of what they are not
Our symbol use is marked by “the paradox of substance”:
To say what something is, we have to say what it is not
Kenneth Burke
Thus, we can’t use symbols without implicitly referencing what the symbol is not
At the same time, we must be careful to realize that the word is not the thing it names
Kenneth Burke
In addition to defining, the negative also serves a moral function
The negative is then used to create moral rules for how we should act
IOW, it allows us to say “thou shalt not”
Kenneth Burke
Burke stressed the idea that not only did humans invent the negative, but language and the
negative “invented” us as well
By this, he is referring to the moralizing aspect of the negative
Kenneth Burke
When we are invented by the negative, we become moral agents, capable of making
choices about what we should and should not do
Inevitably, Burke contends, we violate moral laws creating guilt
Kenneth Burke
Guilt
Guilt is a sense of disorder, imbalance, or remorse that individuals and groups feel
because of symbol use
Guilt is experienced at different degrees or levels
Kenneth Burke
Individual guilt
Forgetting to meet a friend
Failing a test because you didn’t study long enough
Cheating on a test
Kenneth Burke
Categorical guilt
Experienced by groups of people
When a child commits murder, many members in society feel guilt because such action is a
sign that something is wrong with the social order
Kenneth Burke
When political leaders do something wrong, many members of society also feel guilt
Thus, guilt is experienced by both individuals and groups
Further ways that guilt is created through the use of rhetoric:
Kenneth Burke
Hierarchy
Humans are “goaded by the spirit of hierarchy”
Implicit in our symbol use is the idea of hierarchy
Humans use words to arrange themselves in structures, organizations, and social orders
Kenneth Burke
Positions in government, for example, with all their rights and responsibilities, are created
and perpetuated by our laws and customs, which depend on rhetoric
Despite attempts to minimize differences between individuals . . .
Kenneth Burke
. . . guilt results when we operate in structures that allow privileges to some, but deny those
same privileges to others
Thus, hierarchy can be a source of guilt that results from rhetoric
For example:
Kenneth Burke
A junior or a senior may feel guilt toward freshmen who can’t register for classes early and
thus fail to be able to take the classes they wish
(OK, maybe not the best example)
Another concept implicit in hierarchy: mystery
Kenneth Burke
Mystery is part of the difference in status between them and us and in part preserves that
distance
For example:
King and peasant are ‘mysteries’ to each other
Or movie stars
Kenneth Burke
Also central to rhetoric is the desire by humans to seek perfection
We seek to use “proper names” or we try to live the “perfect life”
Burke pointed out that perfection, ironically, can be very destructive
Kenneth Burke
For example, an athlete may try to negotiate the perfect contract
They are entitled to millions of dollars in compensation while the poorest members of
society hunger
Kenneth Burke
The result of trying to live the perfect life often causes us, or our society, great suffering in
the process
Our pursuit of perfection, Burke claims, may result in a rotten society, which leads to
members experiencing guilt
Kenneth Burke
Putting the elements to use
Burke felt that by understanding these central elements of dramatism, one could use these
elements to understand the nature and implications of rhetoric
Kenneth Burke
Burke distinguished between motion and action
Motion is non-symbolic – growth of a tree
Action is based on symbols, or rhetoric. – saying the word “tree”
Kenneth Burke
Postulates (that further describe the relationship):
First – “there can be no action without motion”
Speaking – a symbolic act, requires that you move your mouth and other physical features
to make a word. Even thinking takes neurological motion
Kenneth Burke
Second – “there can be motion without action”
A tree grows despite what we call it
Third – “action is not reducible to terms of motion”
Kenneth Burke
Without understanding the meaning of the words, the physical representations of the letters
on the page are meaningless
Besides allowing us to communicate, action involves choice. A tree has no choice but to
grow, but humans can choose to use symbols
Kenneth Burke
Because rhetoric provides the opportunity for humans to act, moral rules and laws exist to
govern the choices we make
Again, rhetoric leads to moral choices and consequently makes guilt a part of our social
system
Kenneth Burke
Rhetoric also leads to identification:
“A is not identical with his colleague B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is
identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B even when their interests are not
joined, if he assumes that they are, or is persuaded to believe so.”
Kenneth Burke
When two individuals identify with each other, they are “consubstantial”
This means that there is a degree of overlap between the individuals which can be real or
perceived
Kenneth Burke
We use rhetoric to identify with a variety of “targets”, including other people, families,
groups, values, goals, knowledge, activities, or objects
Because of rhetoric, we experience division and conflict
Kenneth Burke
Consequently we seek to identify with others to overcome this division
Hierarchy promotes the differences between people; so we use rhetoric to identify with
them
Kenneth Burke
We identify with others to reduce the mystery
Because we seek out identification, it follows that rhetors may also use rhetoric strategically
to convince us that we are like them
Kenneth Burke
For example, a politician saying that they have shared experiences:
“I feel your pain”
Therefore, there is a fine line between cooperation and exploitation
Kenneth Burke
Ultimately, rhetoric, seen as the desire to identify with others, is a moralizing force in our
culture
Rhetoric as identification
Identification is related to cooperation and highlights the role that audiences pay in
persuasion
Kenneth Burke
Audience members persuade themselves to identify with the rhetor
The concept also allows for the possibility for unconscious persuasion to occur as we
persuade ourselves without being explicitly persuaded by others
Kenneth Burke
Burke concluded that we can be our own audiences and act upon messages of our “secret
thoughts”
The words of others are only effective, wrote Burke, when they can “speak in the language
of a voice within”
Kenneth Burke
Persuasion is only complete when an audience member convinces himself or herself of what
has been said by others
Identification is achieved when rhetors use one or more of three broad types of
identification
Kenneth Burke
The first type is obvious and direct – making the audience think that you are one of them
Ex: the politician who, though now rich, tells of his humble beginnings
Kenneth Burke
The second type uses antithesis, creating an us-versus-them distinction
IOW, a rhetor identifies a particular person, object, or situation as an enemy of the audience
being addressed
Kenneth Burke
The third type “derives from situations in which it goes unnoticed”
For example, using the word “we” to unite audience members with the rhetor is a powerful,
yet subtle, type of identification
Kenneth Burke
Burke’s Pentad
Burke was interested in the relationship between thought and words
When we conceive of a situation, we communicate to others how we see that situation
through the rhetoric we use
Kenneth Burke
The words we use are not neutral, objective references to objects or ideas.
Instead, our rhetoric is always subjective; but at the same time, we cannot escape the
rhetorical worlds we inhabit
Kenneth Burke
The strategies we use to frame situations are based on Motives or Situations
“Situation,” wrote Burke, “is but another word for motives”
The pentad is a tool of analysis that lets us trace how our worlds are constructed through
rhetoric
Kenneth Burke
In so doing, we also understand the various motives, or situations, that determine how
individual rhetors size up the situations they face
Five terms comprise the pentad: act, scene, agent, agency and purpose
Kenneth Burke
Burke’s description:
“In a rounded statement about motives, you must have some word that names the act
(names what took place, in thought or deed), and another that names the scene (the
background of the act, . . .
Kenneth Burke
. . . the situation in which it occurred); also, you must indicate what person or kind of
person (agent) performed the act, what means or instruments he used (agency) and the
purpose.”
Kenneth Burke
Because individuals have different philosophies about the world, they are predisposed
toward featuring one or two pentadic terms when they use rhetoric
Burke believed the act to be the central term of the pentad
Kenneth Burke
What is significant, however, is how the act is reinterpreted by how rhetors feature the other
elements of the pentad
The scene refers to the background of the act or the situation in which the act took place
Kenneth Burke
Rhetors who feature the scene see the world as relatively permanent and deterministic
The situation is thought to control the actions of agents who feature scenes
Kenneth Burke
The agent is the person who performs the act
Rhetors who feature the agent see people as rational and capable of making rational
choices
Agents have the power to overcome scenic elements that limit their choices or actions
Kenneth Burke
Agency refers to the means through which an action takes place
People who feature agency in their rhetoric are pragmatic, they are concerned with how to
accomplish particular acts
Kenneth Burke
Some rhetors feature purpose when they talk
That is, rhetors sometimes focus on the reason for doing something
Burke felt that the pentad should not be used descriptively to simply identify the various
elements in rhetoric
Kenneth Burke
The pentad should be used, according to Burke, to interpret the motives of a particular
rhetor
In other words, rhetors can choose which pentadic terms to emphasize to influence the
thinking of an audience
Kenneth Burke
For instance, an agent can be labeled as responsible for a particular act, or the act may be
portrayed as stemming from a particular scene
For example, if you agree to meet a friend at the library at a particular time to study
Kenneth Burke
But your friend fails to show
(your friend fails to act, in other words)
You can identify your friend – the agent – as responsible
Or you can say that something in the scene – car trouble, for instance – is responsible
Kenneth Burke
The relationship between two pentadic terms is called a ratio
The lack of balance between two terms of a ratio can help critics understand the
relationship between the two terms
One element of the pentad can be explained by another
Kenneth Burke
For example, in the previous scenario, there are two ratios discussed:
act-agent (the agent explains the act)
act-scene (the scene explains the act)
Kenneth Burke
A further example: proponents of a federal welfare system
Often use a scene-agent ratio in their rhetoric to justify social welfare
They argue that social structures and systems have led to the need for welfare
Kenneth Burke
Economic realities, business practices, and educational opportunities prevent some people
from gaining the kind of employment they need to escape poverty
Scene is the controlling term of the scene-agent ratio
Kenneth Burke
The scene constrains the actions of the agents (welfare recipients)
The counter-ratio used by those who oppose welfare is the agent-act ratio
That is, individuals are responsible for their own actions
Kenneth Burke
The government should not support individuals who do not achieve success in our
economic system
In this case, the agents, welfare recipients, control the act, earning enough money to support
themselves
Kenneth Burke
Redemption from Guilt
When we experience guilt, we are induced to seek the perfect redemption from the guilt
As we seek redemption, we look for symbolic sacrifices
Kenneth Burke
When the guilt becomes significant enough, an individual rhetor or a community of rhetors
seeks to remove that guilt
Burke outlined the process through which guilt is created and removed
Kenneth Burke
Rhetoric leads to guilt, but rhetoric is also the way of removing guilt from the social
system
In order to remove guilt and restore order, some kind of redeemer is needed
Kenneth Burke
Two general strategies for purification may be used: mortification and scapegoating
Mortification occurs when the guilty individual or group admits their guilt and asks for
forgiveness
Kenneth Burke
The scapegoat is the ‘representative’ or ‘vessel’ of certain unwanted evils, the sacrificial
animal upon whose back the burden of these evils is ritualistically loaded
Kenneth Burke
This step involves substitution: one character may be redeemed through the act or agency
of another
We try to create a worthy or ‘perfect’ scapegoat
Kenneth Burke
A less than perfect scapegoat will not suffice
Scapegoats can be made worthy in three ways:
1] Held legally responsible and subject to laws. (Enron)
Kenneth Burke
2] Can be assigned in a fatalistic sense, has a flaw (Oedipus)
3] By being too good for this world (Jesus)
Kenneth Burke
An interesting example comes from Carlson & Hocking (1988)
They examined the letters, notes, and other messages left by visitors at the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial
Kenneth Burke
Sought to understand how visitors achieved redemption from their guilt caused by the
Vietnam War
Obviously, supposes that Americans feel guilt “about American involvement, the disastrous
outcome and the lives lost”
Kenneth Burke
Visitors redefined the war’s victims as “sacrificial victims who died for our sins”
(scapegoats)
The fallen are heroic, cleansing the nation of the sins of the war
Redemption is achieved through scapegoating
Kenneth Burke
The visitor transforms the war into “a positive event of heroism and bravery”
For other visitors, the wall calls on them to come to terms with their own actions during the
war or their own feelings about the war
Kenneth Burke
The messages these visitors leave behind illustrate that they are seeking penance as part of a
mortification process
Visiting the wall and responding to it are ways of apologizing to those who died
Kenneth Burke
Redemption is achieved in this case because the visitor can leave with a sense of peace
because his or her guilt about the war has been reduced by paying respects to the fallen
Kenneth Burke
The alternative way of dealing with guilt is comedy
Comic redemption holds that all individuals, at times, are guilty of foolish actions
Instead of removing them from the social order
Kenneth Burke
Comic redemption is achieved by belittling the fool (Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to do),
welcoming the fool back into the community, and learning from the foolish action
Kenneth Burke
The comic frame identifies social ills as arising from human error, not evil, and thus uses
reason to correct them
The result is that the social order learns from the mistakes of its members
Kenneth Burke
The three stages of comic enlightenment are:
Incongruity – rhetors pursuing the comic route focus on the mistakes of a fool in the
rhetorical community
Kenneth Burke
Belittling – comic belittling pokes fun at the comic scapegoat, teaching him or her a
valuable lesson from which all in the community can learn
Enlightenment – the end result is that all can learn from our mistakes
Summary/Minute Paper: