I want to highlight the form and function of Elder Bednar’s speech and some of the monologues that Socrates has in Plato's Gorgias. In my attempt to identify and better understand the use of decorum, I also learned about Roman levels of style and their purposes.
Elder Bednar began in a reverent tone, saying thank and speaking clearly and slowly to his very large audience. The Marriott Center had transformed into a formal auditorium-style lecture hall, and all of the audience that I could see was dressed nicely and were paying close attention to his words. I think it is clear that Elder Bednar used decorum to effectively respect the people and the place where he was speaking.
This use of decorum put Elder Bednar in a perfect position to teach effectively. The reverence and mutual respect in that setting allowed him to effectively use several numbered lists and examples to teach the audience how "To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood." That being said, the fact that he is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ with power from the Holy Ghost made his remarks very moving, which is one of the purposes of a high level style of speech.
In contrast to Elder Bednar’s great use of decorum in order to teach, I don’t believe that Socrates, as he somewhat disrespectfully scrutinized rhetoric, was able to teach effectively. However, I found that this forced him to rise to the high level of style where he could effectively move Gorgias to further explanation and discussion. Socrates asked lot of questions and even proposed a role-play (p. 36) in an effort to invite and move Gorgias to discuss with him, and their discourse went on for many pages!
I'm glad you brought up decorum. I find it most interesting that an Apostle of the Lord is talking about tweeting and instagraming. Someone who is called to teach the world about the resurrection, talking about wall posts. 10 years ago I think people would have received his message in a different way, the "appropriateness" of it coming from an apostle wouldn't have been what it is now. But because of how involved both he and the church are in social media, I think it gave his talk that decorum that was necessary to have an impact.
ReplyDeleteExcellent insights of decorum. Something that I was thinking about was how our decorum changes depending on our audience. Elder Bednar's reverent manner was perfect for an audience of people, especially members of the church, who have come ready to learn. If he was presenting to an audience who were there to be entertained than his decorum would have been quite different i'm sure. Audience impacts decourm.
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