Speech 140- Rhetorical Criticism

Front 1

Rhetorical Criticism

Back 1

Seeks to understand how and how well symbolic artifacts produce meaning for men through the interpretation process

Front 2

Symbolic Artifacts

Back 2

In a speech, include:
-words
-phrases
-images
-gestures
-delivery
-rhetorical devices
-individual phonemes

Front 3

Rhetorical Analysis

Back 3

An analysis of a specific text that seeks to understand the motive and means of the "work as a whole" through the:
-breakdown
-understanding
-analysis of the "sum of parts"

Front 4

What does a good analysis consider?

Back 4

The ways in which the speaker, the speech situation, the speaker's purpose, the audience and the speaker's argument work together to produce an effect in the audience

Front 5

What are the nine basic questions for rhetorical analysis?

Back 5

1. What is the rhetorical situation?
2. Who is the author/speaker?
3. What is the speaker's intention of speaking?
4. Who makes up the audience?
5. What is the content of the message?
6.What is the form in which the message is conveyed?
7. How do the form and content correspond?
8. Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author's/speaker's intentions?
9. What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?

Front 6

To find the rhetorical situation, ask...

Back 6

-What occasion gives rise to the need/opportunity for persuasion?
-What historical factors have given rise to the composition of this text?
-In what ways does the rhetorical situation inform the purpose or message of the speaker?

Front 7

To find the speaker's intention in speaking, ask...

Back 7

-To attack or defend?
-To exhort or dissuade from a certain action?
-To praise or blame?
-To teach, delight or persuade?

Is the speaker's purpose forensic, epideictic or deliberative in nature?

Front 8

To find out who makes up the audience, ask...

Back 8

-Who is the intended audience?
-What values does the audience hold that the author or speaker appeals to?
-Who have been/might be the secondary audiences?
-Are there individual strata within the audience to which the speaker specifically appeals?
-What is the attitude of the audience toward the speaker?
-What is the attitude of the audience toward the speaker's topic/propose?

Front 9

To find the content of the message, ask...

Back 9

-Can you summarize the main idea?
-Can you summarize the individual supporting points?
-What are the principal lines of reasoning or kinds of arguments used?
-How does the author/speaker appeal to reason?
-How does the author/speaker appeal to emotion?

Front 10

To find the form in which the message is conveyed, ask...

Back 10

-What is the structure of communication; how is it arranged?
-Is it following a particular oral or literary genre?
-What figures of speech (schemes, tropes, etc.) are used?
-What kind of style and/or tone is used and for what purpose?

Front 11

To find how the form and content correspond, ask...

Back 11

-Does the form complement the content, enhancing the speaker's conveyance of the main claims?
or
-Does the form of the speech inhibit the message or detract from the speaker's ability communicate their thesis clearly?
-What other effects does/could the form have, and does this aid or hinder the author's intention?

Front 12

To determine if the message/speech/text succeeds in fulfilling the author's or speaker's intentions, ask...

Back 12

-By what factors can you determine/judge the success or failure of the speech?
-Has the author/speaker effectively fit their message to the circumstances, times and audience?
-Can you identify the responses of historical or contemporary audiences to the speaker's purpose and performance?

Front 13

To find what the nature of the communication reveals about the culture that produced it, ask...

Back 13

-What kinds of values or customs would the people have that would produce this?
-How do the allusions, historical references or kind of words used place this in a certain time and location?
-In what other ways can you see the culture shaping the content and delivery of the speech?