Gorgias's Rhetorical Analysis

I think Gorgias is trying to illustrate what makes incantations powerful. In his arguments, he explains that inspired incantations have a double fold effect: relieving pain and pouring pleasure to an individual’s soul thereby making it easy to persuade and change one’s opinion regarding a certain matter. He asserts that incantations also takes advantage of the weaknesses in one’s soul and unearths the true intentions of a person. I also tend to think that the author is attempting to describe how a person can effectively persuade other people – by identifying the fractures in their opinions and exploiting the hidden desires of their souls.
For instance, a parent may have a stubborn child who refuses to take medicine or study. A wise parent …show more content…
He tries to show that just like healing is the subject of medicine and victory is the subject of warfare, rhetoric has a subject too. Aristotle argues that dialectic and rhetoric have a similarity in that they both have subjects in all things and not narrowed like medicine or warfare. While effective communication is the subject of rhetoric, logical thought is the subject of dialectic. In the end, Aristotle concludes his argument by stating that mastering both dialectic and rhetoric is an essential art that helps one to persuade their way through in any murky situation, limitless to any …show more content…
He argues that it is very crucial for one to respond to the strongest arguments of an opponent especially their final words which are still fresh on the audience’s minds. Besides, he insists that it is important for a speaker to clearly state his stand with unshaken firmness so that the adversaries do not assume one’s silence for consent in contentious issues. More importantly, Cicero urges speakers to fiercely criticize what they feel is infringement on their rights or that which shocks them. Ultimately, Cicero succeeds in laying out what it takes to defeat an adversary in a