Hello all! I hope you are having a fantastic Friday! Homer’s Iliad is chock-full of intriguing
examples of successful and unsuccessful rhetoric. In the second book, gods and mortals alike
use both rhetoric and figurative language to convince people of their own
opinions. For example Zeus (or Jove)
sends a deceitful dream to Agamemnon to get the Achaeans to fight Troy. The messenger is Nestor, a close friend of
Agamemnon. Thus, knowing that Agamemnon
trusts Nestor, Zeus considers the audience of his dream, Agamemnon, when
sending his false, persuasive dream.
Another successful use of audience, as well as kairos, comes when Agamemnon
convinces his men to return home despite the false dream. This brings up a question that maybe one of
you could answer: why, if Agamemnon and Nestor trusted the dream, did Agamemnon
want to send the men home? However,
Agamemnon does want to send the men home and cunningly mentions the men’s wives
and children who are anxiously awaiting their return. Kairos is thus implemented in this case
because the Achaeans have been away from their families for nine long years
without much success. If Agamemnon attempted
to use the “family card” in the first month of the voyage, for example, the men
would not care as much and it would not be the opportune moment that kairos is.
Agamemnon also speaks with great Greek
decorum as he does not accuse the men, which would be rude, but rather speaks
holding his “imperishable staff” and talks of pride and bravery, important
aspects of Greek tradition and custom.
Homer uses fantastic figurative language to describe the common soldiers
who flocked to hear Agamemnon speak. Homer
writes that “the people swarmed like bees that sally from some hollow cave and
flit in countless among the spring flowers” in order to create an intriguing
image in the minds of the people listening to the oratory. Not only do the readers/listeners understand
that Agamemnon was a great orator because of the flocking, but also that the
people worked in a community as bees work in a community. Furthermore, once the people are convinced to
return home, “they surged to and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea with
loud cries towards the ships.” This
simile thus keeps listeners interested because they can picture the swarms of
people gathering at the ships and the great, chaotic happiness of the people to
return home.
Odysseus is also as successful a
persuader as Agamemnon when Athena and Hera tell him to convince the others to
fight against Troy despite Agamemnon’s commands. Odysseus is most successful in his use of
decorum and audience. He speaks to the
chiefs and the kings with great respect but consistent pushing toward the
fight—“the flight is cowardly…we do not know Agamemnon’s mind.” He thus maintains respect and control over
the kings’ minds. However, to the common
soldier he is much more brusque and rude.
He tells them to “hold your peace” and “you are a coward and no
soldier.” Because of his knowledge of
decorum and audience, Odysseus convinces all, even Agamemnon, to sack Troy.
Homer also gives an example of
someone who does not know the basic rules of rhetoric, kind of like how I don’t
really know the rules of rhetoric yet.
Thersites rudely accuses Agamemnon of loving gold and women and having
more treasure than the others. However,
Homer convinces us that Thersites should not be listened to by describing him
as having “a glib tongue,” a shrill, squeaky voice, and being the ugliest man
in the army. Greeks prized beauty, so a
man who was extremely ugly would also, by Greek customs, be extremely
inappropriate and not worth listening to.
He broke decorum so much that Odysseus beat him up. Thersites is a clear example of the problems
with not knowing how to argue.
This blog post went well over 300
words, but the Iliad and especially book two, have so many intriguing examples
of successful and unsuccessful rhetoric aided by figurative language that I
felt I could not squeeze in most of it in only 300 words. I would love to hear all of your thoughts,
especially if you think that it was fair for Thersites to be beaten for his
opinion and if you know the reason why Agamemnon wanted to go home after Zeus
promised him, however falsely, victory against the Trojans.
-Katie Johnson
