Christ was extremely effective with his works and could be
considered a master rhetorician. At first glance his figurative writing can be
seen in his advanced parables but at a closer look many forms of rhetorical
writing can be seen.
These schemes and tropes became clear as I read St Mark 13:33-37
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray:
for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as
a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to
his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for
ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at
the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he
find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I
say unto all, Watch.
First Christ begins with a simple simile. This simile helps
the audience understand because it relates his message to something they
already know.
Then Christ goes on to use the schema anadiplosis. He does
this by repeating the word “watch”, first at the end of a clause and then
repeating at the end of a clause what he said at the beginning of the last clause.
This repetition incites in the minds of his audience the importance of
watching.
He also gives a list of times. These times are arranged in
order of nearest to farthest, from most pending to futuristic, thus from most important
to least. This is a catacosmesis figure of speech. The purpose of this is to
impart on the audience the pending
future. They need to act quickly and consistently.
He didn’t just say be consistent and endure to the end. He gave a list of times
to allow the audience to concretely comprehend that the Messiah could come any
time thus increasing the importance to “watch”.
I think that these verses are very powerful because they are so precise, and gives a powerful meaning to the word "watch," as you said. In another English class that I'm taking, we talked about the importance of words, mainly single ones, and how powerful they can be. With just one word, there can derive a myriad of meanings. Like the word "watch" can mean watching other's examples and learning, and watching figuratively your actions and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where anadiplosis would be used, and this is really a beautiful passage that shows that rhetorical scheme very well. Christ truly was a master of speech.
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