The Rhetorical Situation

Rhetoric→refers to the choices people make when communicating

  • Everything involved in effective communication

  • Therefore, a rhetorical situation combines all the elemnts and aspects of effective communication.

Effective communications is about a person sharing a message. There mnust be an author who is trying to appeal to an audience to share a message for a specific purpose this commnication takes place at a certain time to address a certain problem.

Elements of the Rhetorical Situation

  • Author

  • Audience

  • Message

  • Purpose

  • Context: certain time to address a certain problem

When analyzing communication, you must first consider who the author or speaker is. Try to gather as much information about them as possible.

  • Background: What biases, perspectives, and values might they have?

  • Credibility: What makes them an expert on this topic? Should their audience trust them?

  • Relatability: Consider how the author attempts to relate and appeal to their audience and whether their approach is appropriate.

The context of a passage or text is the circumstance surrounding that text when it was written.

  • Time period or date

  • Location

  • Societal norms and expectations

  • Subject it concerns

  • Genre and publication

  • All of these elements work together to form the context

  • These contextual elements influence the message

Exigence is the event or concern that motivated the author to write

  • Impulse

  • Addresses a problem

  • May not be stated

  • Look for clues

Exigence is basically the impulse that prompts communication, like the spark of the match that lights the flame.

In many instances, the exigence tends to be a problem that the author wants to address. Finding the problem is one strategy for identifying the exigence. At times, exigence is highly specific. An event occurs or an action takes place, and so someone responds. However, it can also be a personal insight or conclusion on the part of the author, perhaps a problem they have noticed. Consider the major concern that prompted the author to write and why this message is important when it is shared.