Writers of distinct genres and style enhance their writing by utilizing rhetorical strategies, in which establishes a sense of complexity to the writer’s piece. This indication can be expressed through the article “Mr. Henry Irving’s Macbeth,” a theater review issued by Henry James. Although Henry James appealed to ethos due to the fact that this review was published in a London newspaper in 1875, James transitions throughout the piece by utilizing distinct forms of rhetoric to justify his perspective to the audience. James demonstrates the rhetorical purpose, which is to depict that “actor” Mr. Irving isn’t completely an actor, by utilizing diction, such as the figurative language juxtaposition and oxymoron, and the rhetorical appeal, such as pathos. As a performer, one dreads receiving …show more content…
Unfortunately for Mr. Henry Irving, Henry James had plenty of negative feelings towards Mr. Irving’s production, but rather than simply stating them, he utilizes strategies such as juxtaposition and oxymoron to allow for his diction to disguise much of the negative emotions and display it in a more friendly manner. For instance, Henry James utilizes the figurative language, juxtaposition, when describing how Mr. Irving isn’t an effective actor to the readers when he states, “Mr. Irving has several points in common with Edwin Booth, and belongs to the same general type of actor; but I may say that if, to my thinking, Edwin Booth comes nearer to being a man of genius, I find Mr. Irving more comfortable to see” (lines 41-44). This quotation exemplifies that Mr. Irving does encompass some characteristics, in which an actor in his category needs; however, he can’t fully be assigned the status of an “actor” due to the lack of such criteria. James depicts this by comparing Mr. Irving to Edwin Booth, a famous 19th-century American actor, as well as differentiating them by explaining that he believes that Edwin Booth is considered a man of genius,