• Rhetoric: the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion

• can be found in every situation

• The three rhetorical appeals: the character (ethos) of the speaker, the emotional state (pathos) of the hearer, the argument itself (logos

The Elements of the Rhetorical Situation:

• Author (speaker)

  • What bias and/or experience does this speaker have?

• Audience

  • Take it to the third power- initial, secondary, tertiary audience

    • initial: targeted audience

    • secondary: not targeted, but information got to the

    • tertiary: happened to be there

  • Always find a descriptor for the audience. Americans → mourning Americans. Never just “the reader” or “the audience.”

• Obstacles and Leverages

  • Obstacles: instances and challenges the speaker has to overcome in order to effectively deliver the message

  • Leverages: what the speaker does in order to obtain the upper hand/support in a situation to deliver their message effectively

• Exigence: the specific occasion/event that prompted the message to be spoken/written

• Context: the circumstances surrounding the situation

• Message: what the author wants the audience to think/know

• Purpose: why the speaker is conveying a message, what they want the audience to do