Rhetoric Of Aristotle Analysis

Nick Santulli

ENGL 2070

Hoffmann

28 April 2016

The Rhetoric of Aristotle The word “rhetoric” is derived from the Greek words for “oratorical,” “public speaker,” and “I say, I speak.” Those words were only the beginning of the study of rhetoric, and Greece only the beginning of where its study centered. Figures throughout history have examined the art of effective speech and writing. From its infantile start on Mesopotamian tablets, to the Sophists and Socrates and Plato, to the intellectual minds of David Hume, Frederick Douglass, and Michel Foucault rhetoric has been studied, understood, and used in endless ways. While many have attempted to tame the beast of rhetoric, the first, and undoubtedly most influential, was the Greek philosopher

He collected a massive library and held lectures to the public, unlike Plato and his Academy. This era of his life represents the most extensive collection of his work and the surviving works he produced, including Rhetoric. He relentlessly studied the practical and theoretical sciences and approached them like no man had done previously. However, when Alexander the Great died, Athenians again began to dislike the Macedonians and Aristotle left the city saying that he did not want Athens to “sin twice against philosophy,” referencing the execution of Socrates at the hands of Athens. This was the last he would ever see the city; Aristotle died the next year (322 BC) in Chalcis. Aristotle’s understanding of rhetoric was not lost in his death; his library was left to his successor at Lyceum, Theophrastus, and to the rest of the world.

Style is the way the speaker or writer constructs his speech or writing, the devices he uses, the tone, the diction, the syntax. Aristotle believed that one must be clear in their speech as to correctly and concisely convey and construct their argument, but also not be dull in clarity so the audience does lose interest or dislike the character of the speaker. He also believed that the speaker should use heightened language as to enthrall and emotionally impact the audience, but believed that the speaker should not use too much heighted language as the argument would become less clear and, again, the audience might question the speaker character. Aristotle argued for a middle ground between the two excesses of clarity and heightened language. Aristotle believed there could be a perfect balance to convey the perfect persuasive