The Rhetorical Trio
This effective persuasion exhibited in The Iliad includes the use of ethos, pathos, and logos--rhetorical tools dealing with the character of the speaker, emotion, and reason, respectively.
- It begins with Nestor, Agamemnon, and ETHOS. At the beginning of Book II, after Agamemnon announces the dream he had to his council of elders, Nestor takes the stage to provide backup. He reminds the armies that Agamemnon "is the foremost man among us" (p. 19). He is of good character, Nestor says. Thus, he persuades them to listen and obey.
- Next, PATHOS. On page 21, we find the god Juno bidding the goddess Minerva to send a message charged with emotion. The point? Persuade the Achaeans to stay and fight. Minerva finds Ulysses and shares the message: would the Achaeans leave after "so many of [their brethren] have died at Troy, far from their homes?" Home meant a great deal to the men (shown by their eagerness to set sail). This allusion to the sentiments of their fellow soldiers' sacrifice (so far away from their dear homes and families) persuades Ulysses to enjoin the others to stay and keep fighting.
- A few pages later, Ulysses employs not only Minerva's message but also LOGOS in order to persuade the men to fight. "Jove has sent us this sign," he says (p. 21), referencing an earlier prophecy sent by the god to symbolize their victory in the tenth year of battle. "[The prophecy] is all coming true," testifies Ulysses, reasoning that therefore the tenth year should be the year of triumph. By inferring the truth of the prophecy through reason, Ulysses persuades the men to continue until the war is finished.
Fight like a lady
One thing I noticed in terms of figurative language were the similes often insulting the men by calling them "women," "girls," or "children." What insights do you have about this? Historical, rhetorical, whatever--what do these examples of figurative language add to the story?
(Such similes can be found on pages 24, 25, and 39.)
Figurative language is even used to convey the prophecy of victory. The prophecy is based in a metaphor, or an image, that makes it easier for the human mind to remember. Surely "its fame shall last forever," (25) for who can forget “a fearful serpent…with blood-red stains on its back” that devours baby sparrows? Calchas proclaimed that "the serpent [that] ate the eight fledglings and the sparrow that hatched them" (25) acted as a metaphor of the Acheans' war against Troy. The death of nine birds symbolizes nine years of unsuccessful combat. He then concludes that the tenth year will prove sucessful. By referencing Calchas' metaphoric prophecy, Ulysses creates an image in the soldiers' minds that will inspire them to continue fighting until they gain the tenth year's victory.
ReplyDeleteNice catch on the similes, I didn't notice that trend when I read through the assignment. I think it is interesting not only that those are the comparisons that they use to insult the men, but also the circumstances in which they use those insults. They are called children and widows because they murmured, children because they were standing around and talking instead of fighting, and girls because they had decorated gold armor instead of functional protection. In class we talked about how our historical knowledge may be skewed because only a certain class level was able to record what happened in history. Many groups of people throughout the ages are misrepresented because they could not produce a record of their experiences. I think that the insults in The Iliad are a perfect example of such a situation and that, while we can see how women and children were perceived in the society, we will never really know the female perspective of how life was during this era unless historians find a record written by a woman in this time period.
ReplyDelete