Aristotle’s Rhetoric is essentially a number of persuasion techniques, and these techniques are broken up into different sets of categories. Now watch the below video which is an excerpt from a speech from the film Patton. General Geroge S. Patton gave this speech during World War II and this is the films reproduction of it. Pay close attention to not only what he is saying, but how he is saying it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40pWnzCHktw
(excuse the link but embedding for the video was disabled)
This is a well-known speech for a reason, because it beautifully exemplifies Aristotle’s 3 appeals:
-Logos- Appeal based upon logic
-Ethos- Appeal based upon the character of the speaker
-Pathos- Appeal based upon emotions
First Logos, what is being said is based upon logic, although this excerpt does not do justice to the speech, it does show his ‘do or die’ spirit. He also talks about advancing in battle and referencing the war strategy. Next Ethos, notice the metals decorating the speakers jacket, clearly he is a man that has gone through the military ranks, a man of honor, and needless to say credibility. And finally it exemplifies Pathos. Patton uses strong imagery in the speech such as when he talks about the graphic nature of experiencing the death of a comrade.
Another series of points given by Aristotle are the 5 cannons. The 5 cannons are ways to make speeches the most effective.
First, invention, speeches should include new and informative facts and figures in order to be more effective. The second cannon is, arrangement, which is rather self-explanatory. The information given should be in a clear and logical order to help the listeners understand and maintain the information. Third, style, which is saying that the speech should be given with strong language not spoken as if written by a child. The words have to be powerful enough to have a lasting effect. Next is memory, as in the speaker must practice and memorize the speech. This is important because no one will listen or learn from someone who does not know what they are saying themselves. And lastly is delivery, the person giving the speech needs to show confidence, and speak loudly and clearly not only so they are understood, but so that it is clear that they are passionate about what is being said.
The last issue of Aristotle’s rhetoric that I will discuss is the golden mean. Remembering back to high school math most will remember that the mean is the average, which is also what it is here. Aristotle’s golden mean is a way of suggesting not to go to any extreme and to try to keep things relatively balanced. If you go too far in one direction, then the other direction will start to hurt.
Knowing this much more about Aristotle’s theories on speech and persuasion, go back and look at the above video and see how Logos, Ethos and Pathos apply, also take note to how the 5 cannons and the golden mean are exemplified, not only in that speech but all speeches, both real and fictional. All of the great speeches from Martin Luther King, to more recently Barack Obama use Aristotle’s Rhetorical theories and are all the better for it.
