English 10 / Unit 7: Analyzing Informational Texts and Rhetoric
7.2 The Rhetorical Situation
Notes
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. To analyze it, examine the rhetorical situation.
- Speaker: who is speaking, and what gives them authority?
- Audience: who is meant to hear it, and what do they believe?
- Purpose: what does the speaker want the audience to think, feel or do?
- Context (or occasion): what time, place and events prompted the text?
- Example: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863) was given at the dedication of a cemetery for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Its purpose was to honor the dead and recommit the nation to the war's cause.
Practice
Why is knowing the context of the Gettysburg Address important?
The cemetery dedication during the Civil War shaped the speech's purpose.
A doctor writes a letter to parents urging them to vaccinate their children. The audience is:
The audience is the group the text is meant to persuade.
Which question asks about a text's purpose?
Purpose is the goal of the text.
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