Rhetoric and Rhetorical Analysis - Key Terms | 8/25 2/3

Rhetoric: Core Ideas

Rhetoric is the art of communicating to persuade, inform, motivate, or inspire; can be spoken, written, or visual.
Plato: rhetoric as the art of enchanting the soul (art to master).
Aristotle: rhetoric is the faculty of discovering all available means of persuasion; multiple strategies exist.
Dictionary: rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively.
Rhetoric goals vary: inform, persuade, motivate, inspire; can honor or educate.
Visual rhetoric: posters, ads, paintings count as rhetoric as well.

The message is at the center of any rhetorical act.
Three core components shape the message: Speaker, Audience, Purpose.
Speaker: identity, knowledge, experiences influence delivery and reason for communication.
Audience: knowledge, attitudes, emotions; affects how message is received.
Purpose: inform, persuade, motivate, inspire; determines word choice and tone.
Context/Timing: situational factors that affect reception.
Mode/Genre: form of communication (essay, speech, poster, film, etc.).
These elements interact to determine effectiveness; analysis looks at how they work together, not just identification.

Break down a text into significant rhetorical components and examine how they affect an audience in a context.
Text can be any rhetoric: spoken or written, images, posters, paintings, ads, etc.
Two main ideas: rhetorical situation; rhetorical appeals (to be covered later).
Evaluation focuses on the effectiveness of the choices, not agreement or disagreement.

Titanic poster: identify message, speaker (marketing team/creators), audience (romance/drama fans, nostalgia lovers, fans of Leo/Kate/James Cameron), purpose (celebrate anniversary and persuade to see it), mode/genre (movie poster), timing (25th anniversary near Valentine's Day).
KFC print ad (Canada): message (apology for ran out of chicken); speaker (KFC brand/marketing team); audience (Canadian KFC customers and chicken fans); mode/genre (print ad); tone (humorous apology); timing (week after incident); purpose (apology plus brand messaging).
Reminder: posters/ads communicate multiple messages; context matters.

Task: analyze a speech from a movie, TV show, or play; identify argument and rhetorical elements.
Use evidence from the speech (examples or quotes) to support analysis.
Requirements: around 1000 words; MLA formatting; organized structure; clear voice; awareness of audience and purpose.
Draft option: at least 500 words; draft feedback via instructor; final submission later.
Mentor texts: Hamlet argument; advertisement analysis in Elevations textbook.
Focus: identify strategies to persuade; evaluate effectiveness; not about agreeing or disagreeing.

A 'text' is any rhetoric: speech, writing, image, painting, poster, ad, etc.
Analyses center on how the text uses rhetorical situation and appeals to persuade.
The goal is to explain how the rhetoric works and its effect on the audience.