Politics and Rhetoric

Rhetoric aims to improve the ability for a writer or speaker to persuade or motivate an audience. The Greek philosopher Aristotle described it as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion".

There are many different rhetorical devices which have been well known since Ancient Greece. An extremely common rhetorical device is Hyperboles. This is where the speaker exaggerates to emphasise a point, an example of this is "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse".

Another device is repetition where the speaker repeats a word or phrase to make a point. This is to show how important the point is to the speaker. His was shown by Margaret Thatcher when she said "No, no, no."

A metaphor is a device where two things are compared to show a likeness between them. An example of this is "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent" - Sir Winston Churchill. A simile also compares two things which share a likeness however it uses the word "like" rather than a more direct comparison found in a metaphor. An analogy is also very similar to a metaphor and a simile but it is usually longer and more thoroughly explains a thought process.

An antithesis is where two contrasting phrases are deliberately used in consecutive phrases in order to make a point. An example of this is "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

A rhetorical question is a question made that is meant to make a point rather than elicit an answer. This was shown in Ed Milibands leader speech in 2012 when he said "And why do we succeed?"

An expletive is a device used to interrupt normal speech in order to emphasise the words preceding or succeeding it. An example of this is "And this city - this Golden City which is both ancient and youthful - stands as a living monument to your unconquerable spirit." - Barack Obama

Winston Churchill is well known for his speeches which often contained rhetorical devices. The most famous was his use of Anaphora in We Shall Fight them On the Beaches. Anaphora is the repetition of specific words at the beginning of successive phrases. An example of this is "We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender".

These features are extremely common amongst political speeches as politicians need to emphasise their points in order to persuade, motivate and inform the audience to win their support and votes. These features have remained a part of speeches for centuries which shows their importance and their effectiveness. In my examples of the different rhetorical devices I used quotes from several different politicians from different time periods to show their continued use.


Sources:
http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm
http://www1.dcsdk12.org/secondary/dchs/docs/648997.pdf
http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/powertactics/readingpsgs/chapter2section2.rhtml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3634292/So-what-does-make-a-great-political-speech.html
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric


Samuel Hampson