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AP Lang & CompIntroduction to Rhetorical Analysis

Aristotle Rhetorical TriangleRhetor Speaker WriterAudienceSubject/PurposeRhetoric, according to Aristotle was the art of making truth effective.Plato taught that rhetoric could be dangerous in the hands of a salesman... or worse, a politician.

Rhetor is the one who presents the message, whether in writ- ten form, spoken word, image, or some combination therein. In our readings, it is the author; in the speeches we hear, it is the speaker; in our essays, it is you. Aristotle taught that rhetoric was the art of making truth effective. Plato taught that it could be dangerous in the hands of a salesman... or worse, a politician. Regardless, you are being sold something in everything you read or hear. 2Persona (The character that the rhetor assumes)rhetor A persona comes loaded with cultural connotations and values.A persona is selected to appeal to the intended audience.audience

The character that the rhetor assumes. A persona comes loaded with cultural connotations and values. A persona is selected to appeal to the intended audience. Regardless, you are being sold something in everything you read or hear. The audience is the intended recipient of the message. Some are broad and general. Most are specific. Some are intentional, some situational. Understanding the audience is essential to unlocking a rhetorical analysis. 3Audience: The group to whom the rhetor is directing the message.

Purpose: Intention of the rhetor

Why is this rhetor presenting this message to this audience?

A key to unlocking a thorough rhetorical analysis is understanding the purpose. The rhetor has an agenda to inform, influence, or entertain you.

5Exigency: Context when the message was given.Occasion of the message in temporal and cultural terms.The given circumstances of the messages time and place, culturally speaking.

Zeitgeist (German): the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in timeFrom the notion that "no man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit (Magee, Glenn. The Hegel Dictionary, 2011).Connotation: The sense of the spirit of the times Apply generally (the 60s, man) Or specifically (summer at 15th street)

*From Philospher Georg Hegel who believed that art reflected, by its very nature, the time of the culture in which it is created.

The three appeals

Organization and Arrangement

Think of a museum. Organization is like the building that will house the works. Arrangement is like the placement of the works on the inside.

Diction, imagery, figurative language, syntax

Tone suggests The rhetors attitude toward the subject.