Ethos – Persona and Tone
As Campbell, Huxman and Burkholder suggested “character of the rhetor may be the most potent source of influence, even more powerful than the arguments and evidence or the needs and motives of the audience” (2015: 250).
As stated above in this paper, elements of prior ethos are partly unsuggestible and might cause challenges as well as opportunities for a speaker. Emma Watson’s reputation as a child actress was probably the biggest challenge she had to overcome to prove her credibility as a speaker. How did Emma Watson adjust the other prior ethos elements to achieve her credibility?
First, Watson wore a white, long-sleeved dress. White is a neutral colour signifying peace and reconciliation. It was a good choice, because a very woman-like dress in a typical feminine colour such as red or pink might have signified the preference of woman rights. In contrast, if she had worn a blue dress, it might have signified her affection towards men. The white dress served the purpose to alert that feminism is about equality among men and women.
Second, her formal introduction was well adjusted to enhance her competence in gender equality issue. A man, introducing her, mentioned the fact that Watson is an actress, however a significant part of the introduction was devoted to her humanitarian work regarding education for girls in Bangladesh and Zambia. The person deliberately pointed out her achievements somehow related to gender to enhance her credibility.