Midterm Essays

3. Homer and Rhetoric

The Odyssey and the Iliad were great works of poetry that was written by Homer. Homer was not rhetorician but he became very significant to the history of rhetoric. This is because The Odyssey and the Iliad were poems that were written with rhetorical components. In the canons of rhetoric, we learn about invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. In the beginning of the poem, in Book 1, it starts out with introducing the hero, and giving him credibility, or ethos, by stating that he is “blown off course time and again,” which causes the audience to sympathize with Odysseus because he is continually getting lost. This is a component of arrangement, where, in order to make one’s speech credible, ethos needs to come first in order to establish the speaker or character.

Also, Homer’s writing uses ellipses, which is another rhetorical component when looking at how, something is said, or “style” in the canon of rhetoric. Homer says “speak” in the beginning of The Odyssey, then in the next eight lines, he gives all who should speak.

Another reason he wrote his stories centuries after the Trojan War itself happened. The Odyssey is about Odysseus and his journey home after the fall of Troy. Homer knew of his audience, the Greeks, and knew what country had been through, so writing about a story that happened after the Trojan War would be a great way to appeal to the audience. Appealing to the audience is an aspect of rhetoric that is crucial in order for a work to gain popularity and recognition.

6. Interpreting Greek Speeches

Epideictic oratory focuses on the here and the now, and focuses on praising or blaming a certain person or thing for causing a given event. The Encomium of Helen typifies epideictic oratory because Gorgias wrote it nearly a millennium after the Trojan War, being in his present time when he wrote it. Helen was being blamed for the Trojan war because she was persuaded by love. Gorgias in a way praises Helen, or defends her, in saying that she was indeed persuaded by love, and that she could not help that feeling to emerge. This is the other function that The Encomium of Helen serves—judicial oratory. Judicial oratory focuses on defending and accusing people or things, and Gorgias definitely defends Helen, and accuses the person who she fell in love with.

With that said, one could conclude that the Encomium of Helen is not a piece of epideictic oratory because it has the elements of judicial oratory. But Gorgias is defending Helen, not blaming her, even though she was blamed. It is epideictic because he blames the person who convinced Helen to love him. Gorgias said, “But if she was abducted by force, unlawfully constrained and unjustly victimized, it is clear on the one hand that the abductor, as victimizer, committed injustice…Accordingly the barbarian assailant deserves…to be blamed in speech, dishonored by custom, and penalized indeed…For he did terrible things; she was the victim; it is accordingly fair to pity her and hate him.”

While the narrative itself is epideictic, elements of judicial oratory is seen. Helen was blamed for the Trojan War, but Gorgias is defending her; and the man who persuaded Helen is blamed for the incident, and is accused of persuading her to leave.