Oprah Winfrey Rhetorical Devices

President Ronald Reagan changed the way society viewed public speaking and politics and continues to make his impact on the world today as his rhetoric serves at the outlines of numerous governmental leaders such as President Trump (Costa). While his speeches occurred over thirty years ago over television and radio, Reagan is still remembered as being a monumental orator in history as his speeches are still highly critiqued in both academic settings and public history (Hayward)(Peters and Woolley). Throughout my paper, I will analyze the rhetorical devices Reagan used that were meant to unite, in order to help readers understand the rhetorical devices used in political rhetoric, which consequently both united and excluded certain people. Understanding past rhetoric of an orator such as Reagan will lead to a better understanding of the rhetorical devices used by political figures and the impacts they

Any speech tries to persuade the audience to accomplish the goal of the speaker. There are multiple modes of persuasion. These modes include Logos and Pathos. Logos is the actual evidence and argument whereas pathos is the speakers appeal to the audience’s emotions. In Mary Fisher’s 1992 Republican National Convention Address also known as “A Whisper of AIDS” Fisher speaks to America about the seriousness of HIV and AIDS. Fisher uses both logos and pathos to appeal to the audience. She urges America to take action by using evidence and experiences to promote emotions and certain attitudes to her audience.

Rhetorical strategies are a great way for an author to get their tone and what they want to share to their reader. In Barbara Jordan’s Becoming Educated she uses rhetorical strategies to do just that. Jordan uses repetition and diction to increase her effectiveness of her message. She does so that the reader can also relate to what she is going through. By using repletion and diction she weaves these rhetorical devices throughout her experience to increase its effectiveness to convey her voice and her personal sense of growth.

Another way Clinton uses pathos is when he tries to comfort the people who have lost loved ones by saying, “You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything.” Clinton lets the audience know that they have people that will help them through this hard time and they have the nation behind them: “You have certainly not lost America, for we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.” Clinton ultimately reaches his goal of comforting his audience by using ethos and pathos strategies throughout his speech.

Frederick Douglass, the author of his biography “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, uses rhetoric in order to persuade his readers towards his ideas. Frederick Douglass uses Ethos in order to convince the author that he knows what he is talking about and how he himself is a credible source for the information he is delivering to thee reader. He uses Pathos to emotionally connect the reader to the text with relatability and through a manipulation of emotions. Lastly Frederick Douglass uses Logos in order to convince the reader and persuade them with factual information.

In the novel, Invisible Man, written by Ralph Ellison, he describes an African American man’s life who considers himself “invisible” due to the color of his skin. The narrator of the book is actually the “invisible man” himself. He goes on throughout the novel telling his life story and all about his invisibility. In the text, the narrator gives four major speeches: a graduation speech, eviction speech, brotherhood speech, and funeral speech. He uses an emotional appeal in all of his speeches to grab the audience’s attention. Also, he uses imitation as a strategy in his graduation speech. The narrator’s rhetorical strategies play a big role in the effectiveness of his speeches. In order for his speeches to be effective, he must change the crowd’s

How do writers and speakers keep their audiences interested? Many speakers today use a method, which consists of ethos, logos, and pathos. Two popular men, Martin Luther King and Sam Berns, both utilize ethos, logos, and pathos in a way to build their speeches, “The Street Sweeper” and “My Philosophy for a Happy Life.” Even though they both portray those, they don’t always do it in the same manner. When watching speeches, the speaker always needs to be trusted by the audience, which is another way of saying, displaying ethos. They do this in order to hook the reader’s attention. Along with that, they also want to hear logical words and phrases, logos, from the speaker. Putting an emotional twist on things helps others stay interested in what they are discussing as well. Despite the many ways that King and Berns favor each other, there are many ways in which they differ throughout their speeches.

In any powerful speech, the speaker communicates and relates directly to his or her audience. Elie Wiesel does a superb job of doing this in his Perils of Indifference speech, given in April 1999. His use of pathos

What is it about some people that make others just stop whatever they are doing and listen to their words? Well, it is more than just magnetism, it is strategy. There are many tools and techniques to employ when writing or speaking to connect with one’s audience. Ethos, pathos, and logos are a simple but effective representation of these techniques. In her passionate TED talk, “The Power of Introverts”, Susan Cain employs many rhetorical strategies that allow her to connect with her audience and make her talk more powerful.

Throughout King’s speech, he uses the rhetorical mode, pathos, to give the audience an ambience of strong emotions such as sympathy. For example, whites had

When giving a speech a speaker must be able to connect with his audience, the speaker wants his/her speech to be easy to follow and easy to understand. It is for those specific reasons that speakers purposely put in lots of logos, pathos, and ethos into their speeches so that the audiences can connect emotionally, ethically, and intellectually with what they are talking about. A particular speech that uses many examples of pathos, logos, and ethos is The Great Arsenal of Democracy given by President Roosevelt on December 29, 1940. Throughout the speech President Roosevelt uses excessive amounts of pathos to connect with his people emotionally. He

President Bush’s speech was directed towards an audience of northern Arizonan republican supporters. Bush continuously uses the rhetorical appeal of pathos, the appeal to the

The use of pathos in a speech gives the audience assurance that the speaker understands the depth of the issues in topic, as well as sustains the argument by giving a visual that makes the logical claims stronger and more memorable. Clinton outlines the severity of issues for women around the world, quoting, “women comprise more than half the world’s population, 70% of the world’s poor, and two-thirds of those who are not taught

On September 5, 1995, Hilary Clinton gave a speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference for women's equality, in Beijing, China. Present at the conference were were, 189 governments and more than 5000 representatives of non governmental organizations. The issue that Mrs. Clinton is addressing in this speech is the disrespect towards women and the violation of their rights. She uses pathos an emotional appeal, to get her audience to feel the same way that she does about the issue. She also uses exigence to bring the audience deeper into the conversation. She has been fighting for women’s rights for many years, and she wants her audience to realize how much of a problem it has become and that it needs to be stopped. Her goal is to make her audience believe that women’s rights are human rights through exigence and pathos. Mrs. Clinton also uses the rhetorical element of kairos in her speech. She picks a perfect moment in time, and location to deliver her speech. Though women’s rights is a problem all over the world, it is especially bad in China where the speech is taking place. Clinton is trying to address the issue where it is most relevant. There are many examples of emotional appeals in this speech, and that is how Mrs. Clinton convinces her audience that what she is articulating on is how this issue should be resolved. Through her speech Mrs. Clinton uses pathos to show how women are important to

In the speech “Addressing the Graduating Class”, William Faulkner uses connotative language, persuasion, and ethical appeals to persuade and inspire the graduating class of 1951 to make the world a place with less fear, and more compassion. The speaker uses connotative language to add to the depth and meaning of his message. Through his use of words such as “change”, “injustice”, “courage”, and “fear”, William Faulkner is able to strike emotion and motivation into those listening. Connotative language is a very useful device in this speech because it allows the graduates to understand how much power they have to overcome global challenges while they’re still young.