Rhetoric throughout Hamlet
Throughout Shakespeare's writing you can see rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of persuasive writing or speaking. The overall goal of persuasion is to change the audience's point of view or to leave an impression on them. Aristotle's three theories of rhetoric is logos, ethos, and pathos, which are theories based on logic, ethics, and emotion. Hamlet tells a story about avenging deaths and tragedies. “There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”(Aristotle). As you read the play you can see how these tragedies affect the characters throughout.
Logos is an argument based on evidence, facts, and reason. In the play you can see logos take place when Hamlet found out the truth about how his father King Hamlet being killed. It all began when Horatio and the guardsmen caught a glimpse of what seemed to be the Ghost of king Hamlet himself. As soon as this took place they decided it was best tell Hamlet of the news. When Hamlet found out he went to see for himself and found out that it was the ghost of his father. While he spoke to the ghost he found out that his father’s death was was not by accident his own brother Claudius had killed him and Hamlet was asked to avenge his death. “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”
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In the play you can see how ethos is used by the character Claudius. Claudius is the brother of King Hamlet, who later murders King Hamlet. Claudius is the character that has everyone fooled by his fake actions and emotions. One example of his fake emotions was for his admiration for King hamlet’s wife Gertrude, which soon after married Claudius after the loss of her husband. He also showed great love and care towards his nephew Hamlet. “To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” (Hamlet 2.2.8). Claudius was the most dishonest person throughout the play and is perhaps the reason why all these tragedies take