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How Does Mary Rowlandson Use Ethos In The Crucible

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Emotion is a human instinct that most people find hard to control. It can completely dismantle life as someone may know it. Authors can access emotion and use it to persuade their audience to believe or do a certain thing. Of course, ethics and logic can be used as well, but nothing can compare to the power of pathos. The Crucible, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson all use emotion through word choice to persuade their respective audiences. Characters in The Crucible appeal to their audience’s emotions in order to persuade them they were worthy of their sympathy. John Proctor, although first made out to be a simple sinner, ended up being a hero who died rather …show more content…

In the sermon, Edwards seems to be angry with his congregation for sinning so much. He even begins to attack the children in the audience about their sins. “But the foolish children of men do miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in their confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow.” (Edwards 10) Here, Edwards is telling his congregation that their children were also avid sinners. Edwards plays on the fear factor of his Puritan audience, he wants to terrify them into believing that their children are sinners so that they will do what he wants in order to become holy people. He knows that the parents of his congregation would do anything to ensure their children would be safe, especially from the Devil. Edwards later moves on to accuse the adults in the congregation of not worshipping God correctly. “So that whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men’s earnest seeking and knocking, ‘tis plain and manifest that whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.” (Edwards 11) Here, not only does Edwards try to convince his congregation that their children are sinners, he also tries to convince them that no …show more content…

Mary Rowlandson used emotion to convince its audience of Mary Rowlandson’s suffering and innocence. Mary Rowlandson was taken captive by hostile Indians that murdered her whole family. The only person she had left was one of her children, who was badly injured. “...the bullets flying thicke… (one went through) the bowels and hand of my dear Child in my arms” (Rowlandson 195). Mary Rowlandson is just telling her audience about the horrific events that happened to her child that day, but in a sorrowful tone. Her word choice makes this clear. She uses the word “dear” to impress upon her readers how dear the child was to her. Later on in her recount of these unfortunate events, she talks about her child’s death. “About two hours in the night, my sweet Babe like a lamb departed this life, on Feb. 18, 1675” (Rowlandson 199). Here she uses emotion in the same way as the last quote. Her word choice is the key aspect here. She calls her child sweet and that it died like a lamb. In conclusion, Mary Rowlandson used emotion to persuade and inform her audience of the when she was abducted by the

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