There is one quote right at the beginning of Book 1 that caught my eye: "In every free nation, and most of all in communities which have attained the enjoyment of peace and tranquility, this one art has always flourished above the rest and ever reigned supreme. For what is so marvelous as that, out of the innumerable company of mankind, a single being should arise, who either alone or with a few other can make effective a faculty bestowed by nature upon every man?"
At the beginning of the class (I think? It might also have been the Digital Rhetorics class...), we discussed the interplay between rhetoric and power. I find this relationship fascinating--what power, as writers and rhetors, do we really have? How much can we truly change just with words? And is it the rhetoric itself that is so powerful, or just the fact that rhetoric touches and can be used in any other field of study?
I don't really have answers to any of these questions yet, but I think they're interesting to think about. It especially came to light for me reading this quote from Cicero, who was hounded and killed for his political influence (and therefore power and danger), which came through his use of words and rhetoric.
I think there is power in the fact that I read your post and understood what you are saying, despite the fact that when I think of power the mental image that pops into my head is clearly different than yours. Language has the ability to transform understanding into ways of persuasion despite the constraints put on each individual. For example, I have never been to Botswana, but I can imagine the elephants roaming there because of pictures. These same pictures could persuade me to save the elephants, yet I am not completely sure of their existence. Whether writers or readers have more power than language is impossible to figure out, because the two are interdependent. Is it that rhetoric can be used in any other field of study, or more that any field of study is reliant on rhetoric for survival? Without a way of persuading I think it would be impossible to obtain things, which would limit survival, although this might be a slippery slope, we are dependent on rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteWhat interests me (in addition to what you have described) is the extent to which a mastery of rhetorical practices and strategies might imbue a writer with more power. Surely learning not only how to make a point, but also how to make a point which is more likely to truly convince people or change circumstances would be a valuable skill indeed.
ReplyDeleteYet I'm irked by the stipulation on page 305 that one needs to be personally charismatic/handsome or beautiful in order to be a good orator. That's not helpful, Crassus! I'm more interested in devising superior arguments... although I realize that a speaker's apparent confidence levels or methods of packaging and presenting those arguments is greatly important.