What Is The Use Of Ethos In Mcconaughey's Speech

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Ethos In McConaughey’s speech he quotes, “in the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said “When you got God, you got a friend, and that friend is you” (2014) he uses two very credible sources. Laughton was born on July 1, 1899 in Yorkshire, England. He starred in many films and in 1933 won best actor for his role in The Private Life of Henry VIII. Laughton formed his own film company, Mayflower Pictures Corp., with Erich Pommer, in 1937 (Kyle Perer, n.d., para 1). McConaughey utilizes Laughton as a credible source because of all his achievements in the film industry. The audience, being a lot of famous actors, should have all heard of Laughton, making him easily recognizable. The second credible source that McConaughey portrays is God. “Now first off I want to thank God, because that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or of any human hand. He has shown me that it is a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.” (McConaughey, 2014) God is someone that everyone can look up to whenever they need help or reasoning or anything in that matter. Pathos …show more content…

McConaughey also uses his father as a way to make the audience laugh. He demonstrates his father in heaven watching him during the awards. “To my Father who I know he is up there right now with a big pot of gumbo. He has got a lemon meringue pie over there, he is probably in his underwear and he has got a cold can of Miller Lite, he is dancing right now. To you Dad, you taught me what it means to be a man.” (McConaughey, 2014) By doing so, McConaughey makes use of pathos to the best ability in two or three sentences by making the audience feel two of the strongest emotions: happiness and