Shakespeare-- The Rhetorican

I really enjoyed Kevin’s unique approach to rhetoric from the perspective of Shakespeare. I had Barfield’s Shakespeare class last semester but had never really thought about the rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos that were manipulated by Shakespeare’s characters to achieve their persuasive purpose.

Kevin’s comment about rhetoric is similar to Bill Hick’s idea of the “responsibility of the intellectual.” Kevin said that it is the duty of the rhetorician to turn the way their audience envisions things to how he wants them to see things. Dr. Fishman in reflection briefly addressed the power of words in plays—the idea that words could actually perform actions. In Habermas’ theory, knowledge was divided into three areas, in which language is power. He associated this power with being able to “[coordinate] action through speech.”

Shakespeare’s central characters were all great rhetoricians—in their own special ways. Richard III, using his rhetoric to manipulate, to control, and to distort perspectives. Shylock, using his rhetoric in attempts to stir up a sense of sympathy for the Jewish culture. Hamlet, using the power of words to “speak daggers” so that he might reveal the truth and take revenge.

The presentation ended on an insightful note (in light of all that had been thought about with previous presentations on the responsibility of the rhetorician). Hamlet’s mother says: “Thou turnst my eyes to my very soul”. This is something a rhetorician can only hope to achieve with his audience. That his words would incite a thoughtful evaluation of the soul and a response to act.