Linguistic means of persuasion In Barack Obamas speeches.

Chapter I. Rhetoric and language of politics

1. Rhetoric
2. Political language
3. Barack Obama as a politician and rhetor
4. Presidential elections

Chapter II. Linguistic means of persuasion

1. Persuasion

1.1 Definitions overview

1.2 Methods of persuasion

1.3 Tools of persuasion

Chapter III. Means of persuasion analysis

Chapter I. Rhetoric and language of politics

In this chapter, it will be shown how the Ancient art of rhetoric influences the
language, particularly the language of politics. For some people the term rhetoric,
in a colloquial language, has a negative connotation and is understood as just a way
to manipulate the audience with good looking but empty performance. In reality
rhetoric is a valuable and powerful tool with which an orator can reach the highest
levels of persuasion and present the facts and logical arguments in the best possible
way. Rhetoric influences politics as long as it can be remembered simply because a
successful politician should also be a skilled orator in order to convince his
audience. President Barack Obama is by many regarded as one of the most talented
orators of his time and his success owes a lot to the art of rhetoric which rules can
easily be traced in his speeches

1. Rhetoric

The beginnings of rhetoric as an art of discourse and study of language reach the
times of Ancient Greece. In the 6th century B.C. a school of philosophers known as
the Sophists started to develop tactics to use language as a persuasion tool. Sophists
education aimed their attention at five main criteria of rhetoric: invention,
arrangement, style, memory and delivery. The sophists considered rhetoric an
universal tool helping the speaker to communicate with and convince the audience.
According to them the speaker did not need to have a full knowledge or experience
in the subject his speech concerned and that the subject of the speech can really be
anything not only politics.
 Plato, another philosopher from Ancient Greece, criticised Sophist approach as a
way to mislead and trick the audience into believing in anything the speaker wants
it to believe instead of accurately presenting the reality. He pointed to how in his
view, rhetoric influenced audiences emotions and did not pay enough attention to
the facts.

Aristotle who was Platos apprentice, viewed rhetoric from a more broad
perspective. He disagreed with his teacher and defended the study of rhetoric as a
very important element of philosophy together with dialectic and logic and saw it
as a way to spread knowledge. Between 367 and 330 B.C. Aristotle wrote a treatise
Rhetoric (Ars Rhetorica) which is since then regarded as "the most important
single work on persuasion ever written."1 In his works Aristotle developed the
basics for understanding rhetoric that influenced all the theories in that subject that
were later created until the modern times. In the first of three books of the treatise
Aristotle presented the way he understands rhetoric. According to him rhetoric is an
art of using words, not the mere set of rules and principles of argumentation but also
a practical skill which allows these rules to be used in a given situation. Aristotle
rejected the Sophist approach to rhetoric as an art of pure persuasion instead he saw
it as kind of a tool that allows to look for and discover what can be persuasive in
relation to the given subject. However, Aristotle did not claim that an orator who
possessed this tool would be able to convince any audience. He compared a rhetor
to a physician: This is not to say that the rhetorician will be able to convince
under all circumstances. Rather he is in a similar situation as the physician: the
latter has a complete grasp of his art only if he neglects nothing which might heal
his patient, though he is not able to heal every patient. Similarly, the rhetorician
has a complete grasp of his method, if he discovers the available means of
persuasion, though he is not able to convince everybody2 Therefore the purpose of
rhetoric is finding credible methods of argumentation. The orator needs to adjust his
speech to the audience and consider in full the context in which his speech would be

1
James Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist, William E. Coleman, Ruth Golden, & J.Michael Sproule
(eds.). The rhetoric of Western thought: From the Mediterranean world to the global setting, 9th ed
(2007); p.67.
2
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/
given. According to Aristotle rhetoric is the ability (dynamis) of observing in any
given case (peri hekaston) the available means of persuasion (pisteis). 3 The term
dynamis means power or ability, peri hekaston refers to the fact that rhetoric
always has to do with concrete situations and pisteis means I trust from Greek
pisteuo. Aristotle divides pisteis into two categories: artistic and non-artistic.
Artistic means of persuasion are further divided into three categories. First category
includes those means of persuasion that come from the good character of the orator
(ethos), second category for those coming from audiences emotions (pathos) and
the last category for those derived from persuasiveness of arguments used (logos).
Ethos has to do with convincing the audience that the orator is a credible person by
applying three factors: practical intelligence, virtuous character and good will. The
persuasion has to be achieved by word usage therefore ethos is a persuasion
through personality and stance.4 Pathos as a mean of persuasion can be described
as creating positive emotions and connotations in the minds of the listeners. 5 The
speaker needs to be aware of the audiences emotional states, needs to be able to
recognise different kinds of emotions and has to know how to control and arouse
the desirable feelings in the audience because emotions have the power to modify
our judgments.6 Logos can be understood as persuasion through reasoning7 It
has to do with using the arguments that are logical. According to Aristotle
deductions and inductions are two types of arguments. Deduction is a process in
which one uses his knowledge to understand a given issue or to form an opinion
whether induction is a process of thought that uses known facts to produce
general rules or principles8 Aristotle introduced a term enthymeme which in
rhetoric is a kind of deductive argument. "The enthymeme is a rhetorical syllogism.
As opposed to a logical syllogism, which is a three-part statement where the first
two parts prove that the third is true, the rhetorical syllogism does not have to

3
Aristotle, Rhetoric
4
Adrian Beard; Language of Politics; 2000,p. 37)
5
Helena Halmari; Persuasion across genres: a linguistic approach , 2004 p. 116
6
Georgios Anagnostopoulos ;A companion to Aristotle,2009 ;p.584
7
Adrian Beard; Language of Politics; 2000,p. 37
8
Longman advanced American dictionary 2003
include all the premises for deduction, and they do not necessarily have to be true
either."9 For Aristotle, enthymeme is a basic rhetorical argument and a base for
persuasion. The most important element of persuasion is for Aristotle the logic
because if an argument appears to be logical it would be illogical to oppose it 10
However a good rhetor, according to Aristotle, should not only be familiar with
logic that is a study of argumentation but also ethics which deals with human
character, and psychology which has to do with emotional states.

Aristotle also distinguished three different types of rhetoric that agree with
different audiences which members could be judges or jury, legislators or voters,
and spectators. Therefore there are three types of rhetoric. Forensic Rhetoric, the
purpose of which is to persuade the audience that a certain past event or action was
fair or unfair, Deliberative Rhetoric which aims at convincing the audience whether
a certain future action is beneficial or not and Epideitic Rhetoric the purpose of
which is to persuade the audience that a certain individual is either honourable or
not. In his work Aristotle also presented the concept of the speaker which combines
the two elements of pathos and ethos. The rhetor in order to persuade should be able
to arouse in the audience all the desired contrasting emotions like fear and courage
or shame and respect. Aristotles Rhetoric also contains the information on means of
linguistic expression and the composition of speech. Aristotle discusses the aspect
of style in the last part of The Rhetoric. The most important matter as far as style is
concerned is the clarity of speech as it influences the persuasiveness directly. The
speaker must state his points clearly but also avoid flatness and banality in his
performance. In order to attract audiences attention the orator should use elevated
language but try not to exaggerate because excessive use of uncommon vocabulary
could not only disturb the clarity of speech but also ruin the credibility of the rhetor.
In order to keep the balance between too flat and too elevated the orator is
equipped, according to Aristotle, in a classification of words: standard
expressions, borrowed words, idioms or vernacular expressions, ornamental
9
Assmundson, Mikael (2008). Persuading the Public : A Linguistic Analysis of Barack Obamas
Speech on Super Tuesday 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-3436 (2011-03-19)

A Linguistic Analysis of Barack Obamas Speech on Super Tuesday 2008 after Frogel 2005: 26
10
Assmundson, Mikael (2008). Persuading the Public : A Linguistic Analysis of Barack Obamas
Speech on Super Tuesday 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-3436 (2011-03-19)
expressions and metaphor11 The latter is a very useful language tool because it
delivers the common, familiar words with a new meaning therefore making a
speech pleasant and attractive for the audience. Yet still the orator must be careful
not to use too much of the unfamiliar words but just enough to avoid the banality of
the speech.

Another occurrence in the history of rhetoric worth mentioning was the publishing
of Ivor Richards book in1936. The book was a program statement of the new
school of New Rhetoric. Its essence was the use of rhetoric in mass communication
theory and using its rules in propaganda and advertisement techniques. Since then
the rhetoric was adapted by modern theory of communication and is a point of
interest for the linguists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists as well as the
advertisement, public relations and political marketing specialists.

2. The language of politics

Politicians, in order to successfully reach the audiences attention and convince it to

their point of view, have to consider, among other aspects, the linguistic means of
persuasion. The language is a powerful tool in the quest for authority and political
power but its main function is communication. In politics, language is a tool of
communication between the ruling and the ruled and a way of expressing ideas,

11 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/#style
opinions and judgements.12 There are plenty of ways for the language user to
express his personal beliefs and shape the desired reactions in the audience. High
innovativeness of speech, lexical and form diversity, word game or metaphor are
some ways to achieve positive reception. A politician must be aware of the fact that
the main field of their actions are their language choices that are subjects to the
rules of rhetoric. Also they know that their political carrier depends on their ability
to convince the voters that they are credible, competent and honest. The rules of
rhetoric are especially visible in such political language realisations as programme
speeches, exposes or pre-election performances. Whenever it is difficult to use the
emotive linguistic means of persuasion the rhetoric is very useful and has its way of
making the probable more attractive.13

What political texts have in common is that their main recipients are the masses.
Therefore the linguistic means need to have a persuasive function to urge the mass
audience to act upon the intentions of the orator, acquire or reject certain ideas and
above all accept the hierarchy of values imposed by the speech giver. In this context
the scope of political language should be expanded beyond the previous definition
of communication between the ruling and the ruled. It should be expanded onto the
press articles and commentaries, television programmes, radio broadcasts and other
aspects concerning politics in the mass media.14 The journalists and people dealing
with politics like spokesmen, advisors, advertisement and public relations
specialists, writing or talking about politics, acquire, replicate and even create rules
functioning in the language of politics.

Despite the fact that the political language is formed in a political environment it
cannot be classified as a slang or jargon because its function is not limited to
communicating within one social group but it is designated to reach the widest
audience possible. However, to classify political language as a separate language
variety is necessary taking into consideration the purpose and function of political
12 Paul E. Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979 Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979

13 Paul E. Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979 Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979

13

14 Murray Jacob Edelman; Political language: words that succeed and policies that fail; 1997
texts. Political language can therefore be described as a language created by people
associated with politics and politicians themselves that is addressed to all of the
general language users.15 Main feature of political language is its dominating
persuasive function and a little less distinct informative and expressive function.
According to the linguistic studies not only the text is important but also the general
situation and context in which the content of the text is presented. From this
linguistic perspective three subtypes of political language can be derived:
diplomatic language, language of propaganda and language of agitation. The
diplomatic language is in its nature very formal, vague and indeterminate.
Diplomatic texts are filled with fixed phrases and euphemisms the use of which is a
consequence of certain diplomatic taboo. Propaganda and agitation are different
from each other in terms of the range of their purposes and the linguistic means of
persuasion. Agitation language carries an emotional load and uses the negative
motivation more often, pointing, in an aggressive way, at what is annoying,
outraging or unpleasant for the audience and thus achieves the persuasive effect
more easily. The language of propaganda, while preserving a semblance of
objectivity, focuses less on the audiences emotions and tries to reach its intellectual
realm. The phenomenon of propaganda is characteristic to closed political systems:
authoritarian and totalitarian.16 By contrast, politicians in democratic political
systems communicate with the citizens. However some elements of all the three
subtypes are present in political language. In speeches of single politicians or party
programme speeches elements of diplomatic language can be found but during
meetings with the voters or television debates the traces of language of propaganda
and agitation can easily be noticed. Nowadays the common language also started to
penetrate the political language more freely. Sometimes it is a purposeful language
tactic used in order to create a semblance of a closer relation between the speaker
and the audience or suggest the unity of their interests and values. The further
observation of the political language allows to state that the more the persuasive
aspect of language is camouflaged the better the results. 17 Therefore, nowadays the
15 Paul E. Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979

16 Leslie John Martin; International propaganda: its legal and diplomatic control ;1958

17 Murray Jacob Edelman; Political language: words that succeed and policies that fail; 1997
usage of more discrete means of persuasion is increasing. Undisclosed intentions of
the speaker are not verbalised rather they are vague suggestions that refer to
emotive language functions. For the persuasion to be successful the recipients
reaction must occur as planned. In order for that to happen the subject of persuasion
needs to be certain that his behaviours and actions resulted from his own decisions.

The key to understand what political language is, what are its functions and what
purpose does it serve, are the concepts of mass communication and mass culture.
Many scientists considered the invention of printing with movable type a beginning
of the mass communication era identifying the properties of press with the
characteristics of mass communication in general. But the emerging of new means
of communication and coining the term mass media began an ongoing discussion
on the subject of the new level of communication and the social role of mass
communication. The essence of the mass communication is the collective nature of
the recipient which is a great in number, socially diverse and poorly interconnected
community thus a mass.18 Communicating with the masses needs a special approach
to the message itself which has to be understandable to everybody. This brings a
conclusion that the message has to be formulated in such way that it is clear even to
the least educated recipient. Mass communication is aimed at the recipients
understood as an audience, not active participants in the communication process.
Politicians are aware of the fact that in order to win, they need to be heard. And
those that are heard are usually people with vivid, expressive personalities that
present the reality either as idyllic or horrific using either an elegant language
gracefully or make it intentionally brutal and even their language mistakes are
made purposefully. In order to find better ways of propitiation of new recipients and
the most attractive ways of describing the reality the politicians invent more and
more linguistic tricks referring to all possible language styles and genres. Therefore
the main function of the mass communication is attracting the audiences attention,
multiplying its number and persuading to do something rather than informing or
establishing a real contact. The same can really be stated about political language
understood as a tool of persuasion.

18 Paul E. Corcoran; Political language and rhetoric 1979

3. Barack Obama as a politician and rhetor

Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th president of the United States of America, was
born on the 4th of August 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii to Stanley Ann Dunham and
Barack Obama Senior. After their divorce in 1964, Stanley Ann Dunham married a
student from Indonesia who in 1967 had been recalled to his country. The family
moved to Jakarta with him and for the next four years Barack Obama attended local
schools. In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his grandparents and
attended a private school until his high school graduation in 1979. The same year he
moved to Los Angeles and begun his college education at Occidental College. In
1981 he transferred to Columbia University in New York from which he graduated
in 1983 with major in political science with a specialty in international relations.
After working as a civil rights attorney and a community in Chicago, he entered
Harvard Law School in 1988. At the end of his first year at Harvard he became an
editor of the Harvard Law Review journal and elected its president a year later.
Obama was a first African American president of the journal and that fact earned
him media attention and helped him in later publishing his biographical book:
Dreams from My Father in 1995. Since 1991 until 2004 he worked at the
University of Chicago Law School as a Lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer where
he taught constitutional law.

Barack Obamas political carrier began in 1996 when he was elected to the Illinois
Senate. He served three terms as the Illinois Senator until he decided to run for the
United States Senate in 2004 . The preparations for the campaign started two years
earlier when Obama founded an election committee, hired David Axelrod, a
political media consultant, and began collecting funds. Obama officially announced
his U.S. Senate candidacy in 2003 and his unexpectedly overwhelming victory in
primary elections in March 2004, made him a key member of the Democratic Party
and a hope for the future presidential elections. With the speech Obama gave at the
2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston on Julay 27th , he was able to
excite the audience, and with his prominent oratory skills, passionate performance
and religious connotation, he aroused feelings of unity, hope and faith for the better
future.

"Hope! Hope in the face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty! The audacity
of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A
belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead."19

His speech, seen by over nine million people, not only strengthened his position in
the Democratic Party but brought him to the attention of the nation and in one night
made him one of the most popular politicians in the United States.

Obama won the general U.S. Senate election with 70% votes In November 2004,
and as a Senator since then was considered a liberal and loyal Democrat with high
levels of popularity among the citizens. In February 2007 Barack Obama officially
declared his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections. Obamas speech,
given that day, once again connected him with his audience by referring to their
dreams and the ideals of the founders of America which are still present in todays
American minds.

It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East, and West come together that
I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people where I came to
believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America. And that is
why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided
house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand
before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.20

The place he chose to make this announcement, the Old State Capitol building in
Springfield, Illinois, had a symbolic meaning as it was the same spot where in 1858
Abraham Lincoln made his famous House Divided speech.

Barack Obama is by some writers described as the greatest rhetor of his times
because of his captivating speeches which carry in them subtle elements of other

19 Mary Lou Decostrd Right Brain/Left Brain President 2010; p. 100

20 "Full Text of Senator Barack Obama's Announcement for President New York Times, February 10, 2007
great famous speeches like Martin L. Kings I have a dream or Abraham
Lincolns House Divided. Obamas great oratory skills are based on Ancient
Greek Rhetoric. In ancient Greece the art of discourse was a base for politics and
political power depended on the oratory abilities of the rhetors. It seems that Obama
is aware of the fact that in modern times the rhetoric is still a powerful tool. In his
speeches he uses metaphors for example: The words have been spoken during
rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace 21, repetitions and emphasis
and even sublime techniques like tricolon. Which means giving a triple emphasis
points like in Cesars Veni, vidi, vici. Another rhetoric technique is drawing
audiences attention to the subject by not directly mentioning it. When Obama
speaks of Martin Luther King as a young preacher from Georgia, a kind of
intimacy is set between him and the audience. The audience feels flattered by his
assuming that the listeners will understand his point without further explanation.
Obama also knows how to apply ethos in his speeches to build his credibility by
convincing the audience of his intelligence, virtues of character and his good will
and pathos by creating positive emotions and connotations in the minds of the
listeners.22 Obama knows how to raise desired emotions in his audience by using
the right uplifting words like hope, change or dream. Yet, he uses simple
words, short sentences and common language to make a bond with the audience.
Even the use of personal pronouns is significant. By using the we pronoun he
suggests that he and the people who listen are a unity, he connects with the audience
and is able to gain its trust. The Yes, we can slogan from his presidential
campaign illustrates this mechanism. As far as logos, another rhetoric mean of
persuasion, is concerned, Barack Obama does not forget that applying the logical
arguments is the best way to persuade the audience. Obama showed in his speeches
what the government has achieved, what they are doing and what they will
dotherefore arousing the audiences confidence that as a president he is worth to be
trusted. Another aspect proving Obamas oratory skillfulness is not only which
words he uses but also how he delivers them. By controlling the pitch of his voice
and modulating it to emphasize important issues he empowers his speeches even

21 Fragment from Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, 2009

22
Helena Halmari; Persuasion across genres: a linguistic approach , 2004 p. 116
more. The same is accomplished by rightful usage of the body language therefore
all the gestures and facial expressions that can further convince the audience of his
credibility.
4. Presidential elections

In the presidential campaign, between February 10, 2007 and November 5, 2008,
Obama focused on the issues of ending the Iraq War, energy independence and
23
universal health care as well as national security and economy . The leading
theme of the campaign were the concepts of change and hope. Change we
Can Believe In was a campaign slogan that together with the Yes, we Can!
slogan was supposed to convince the voters that the desired changes are possible
and available for them. Obama tried to reach his audience through television
advertisements, posters and the internet. The latter was considered an innovation but
through different web pages, community pages, e-mails and text messaging Obama
gained popularity among the young voters.

In his public speeches, Obama drew the sense of pride and patriotic feelings in his
audience by praising the greatness of the United States. In his speech given in
Toledo, Ohio in October 2008, he refers to its power in facing difficult challenges as
one united nation.

"I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. But I also know this - we
can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because we are the United States of America.
We are the country that has faced down war and depression; great challenges and
great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these
challenges - not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans.24

In his speeches, Obama uses many rhetorical tools. One of them is voicing, which
makes the audience an active participant in the speech through their cheers and
23 "Barack Obama on the Issues: What Would Be Your Top Three Overall Priorities If Elected?" The Washington Post.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/barack-obama/#top-priorities Retrieved

April 14, 2008

24 Tim Davidson; The Essential Obama: The Speeches of Barack Obama; 2009, p.57
chants. Obama managed to emotionally connect with the audience by quoting not
only the historical figures like Abraham Lincoln but also personal stories of
ordinary American citizens. An example of such story could be seen in the speech
he gave in January 2008 in South Carolina when he told the audience a story about
a woman waiting for her son to return from Iraq. Also Obamas speech which he
delivered on Super Tuesday in February 2008 is worth mentioning as it was an
important factor in winning over Hilary Clinton in the primary elections becoming
the Democratic Party candidate.

When his victory was announced, he gave the acceptance speech during the
Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado which was viewed by over
38 million people. He was again able to enchant the crowds. He brought the themes
of change and hope to their attention and managed to form a bond between them
and himself.

Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and the
workers who created it25

"In our country -- In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not
because we agree on everything, but because, behind all the false labels and false
divisions and categories that define us, beyond all the petty bickering and point-
scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people,
united by common challenges and common hopes."26

With that speech he again proved his great oratory abilities, receiving desired
reactions from the audience.

As the presidential campaign followed, Obama confronted the Republican Party

nominee John McCain in traditional joint appearances and television debates.
During these events he gained confidence over Senator McCain. He won the
elections with 69 million total votes and On November 4th, 2008 was elected the
President of the United States.

25 Tim Davidson; The Essential Obama: The Speeches of Barack Obama; 2009 p.37

26 Tim Davidson; The Essential Obama: The Speeches of Barack Obama; 2009 p. 38
On the 5th of November 2008 Barack Obama delivered his victory speech in
Chicago, Illinois. The speech combined in it all of the campaign slogans of change
and hope and again referenced to the famous speeches of Martin Luther King, John
F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.

"But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining
27
moment, change has come to America"

With this statement Obama not only referred to Martin L. Kings "I've Been to the
Mountaintop speech but also underlines the importance of his success in
accordance to the expected changes his presidency will soon bring for the
Americans. With this short sentence he again unites with the audience and shares
his victory with them. To tie the bond with the audience even tighter and show that
he is a person anyone can identify with he mentioned his loving family. Sasha and
Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new
puppy that's coming with us to the White House.28 He aroused very positive
emotions and presented himself as a family man with this statement. With words:

"The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one
year, or even in one term but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am
tonight that we will get there."29

Obama reintroduces the theme of hope and American strength in facing challenges.
This statement brings with it a promise for the Americans that though it may not be
easy, they together with their new president, as a unity will cope with any
difficulties future may bring.

27 Fragment from Barack Obamas Election Night Victory Speech November 4, 2008 Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois

28 Fragment from Barack Obamas Election Night Victory Speech November 4, 2008 Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois

29 Fragment from Barack Obamas Election Night Victory Speech November 4, 2008 Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois
The fact that Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election was an outcome of
many combined factors. His political program and team of people who helped him
during his campaigns or his family support greatly contributed to his victory.
However this paper concentrates on the linguistic side of Obamas success and how
he uses language to persuade the audience to his ideas. We can see from the material
presented in this chapter how significant are the rules of rhetoric and how applying
these rules enables the orator to attract and keep the audiences attention, and
convincing it. It can also be observed how following the rules of ethos, pathos and
logos can firstly build the orators credibility, elicit desired emotional states to
influence audiences decisions and how this makes a ground for the logical
arguments to reach audiences ears. This chapter also showed how different
rhetorical devices like metaphor or tricolon can be used to further enrich the
language of politics and how thanks to all these tactics can it serve its purpose to
persuade.