Rhetoric

In Year 9 English, we have been learning about rhetoric in speeches. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. The three pillars of rhetoric are pathos, logos and ethos. These are said to be the heart and soul of a good speech. We have studied Malala Yousafzai’s ‘Education is the Only Solution’, Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Nelson Mandela’s speech ‘An Ideal for which I am Prepared to Die’ and Emmeline Pankhurst’s ‘We are here in our Efforts to become Law Makers’.

It is said that to make a great speech it must include the Aristotelian triad pathos, logos and ethos. Pathos is used to evoke or encourage a particular emotion in your reader. Logos is logical proof to back up your point and finally, ethos is credibility to show what extent you are trustworthy and how knowledgeable you are on your speech.

We have now moved on to creating speeches talking about important world issues such as deforestation, wellbeing and university fees using these forms we have learnt.

Maayana C, Year 9 Press Gang

Share!