If you’re a CEO, entrepreneur, author, professor, coach, or consultant, you’ve likely heard the term “rhetorical analysis.” This might sound like just an academic exercise, but understanding rhetorical analysis is key for improving communication. It’s about achieving communication strategically and helps us consider an audience’s perspective. What if you could learn to dissect any form of communication, understand its impact, and even predict its success?
Get The #1 Marketing Asset To Book More Paid Speaking Gigs
Join us for the Booked & Paid Bootcamp — our NEW 2-day virtual event designed to help you start booking more paid gigs FAST.
Over two 5+ hour days of live training and Q&A, our team of 6 and 7 figure speakers will give you the proven playbook you need to become a successful paid speaker.
What’s a Rhetorical Analysis?
A rhetorical analysis examines how communication—speech, article, or advertisement—functions. It focuses less on *what* the message says and more on *how* it’s delivered, and whether it achieves its purpose.
It evaluates effectiveness from the intended audience’s perspective. Imagine a recipe: you’d check the ingredients, how they’re combined, the result, and whether it met expectations. A rhetorical analysis asks similar questions of a communication piece.
Breaking Down the Rhetorical Situation
The rhetorical situation is the context of any communication. The rhetorical analysis starts here. The first part includes the intended audience and expected outcome. Core components to consider are:
Audience: Who is the intended audience? Effective communication targets and adapts to its audience.
Author/Speaker/Writer: The creator’s background and goals influence interpretation and connection. Their background affects whether the message resonates with the intended audience.
Purpose: What’s the goal? The perceived purpose may differ from the stated one, and clarity is crucial.
Message: The main points are analyzed from the audience’s viewpoint. Miscommunication weakens the message’s impact.
Medium and Genre: The delivery method. Speeches differ vastly from advertisements, so choose what works best.
The Power of Rhetorical Appeals
Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, identified three main ways to appeal to an audience: ethos, pathos, and logos. In rhetorical analysis, we examine how these elements are used to persuade and connect with others. These appeals are key to effective communication.
Ethos refers to an appeal to credibility or ethics. It works by convincing the audience that the speaker or writer is trustworthy and knowledgeable, making the message more believable.
Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It engages the audience by evoking feelings such as compassion, fear, or excitement. This emotional connection helps the audience relate to the message. A pathos appeal is one of the most commonly used rhetorical techniques.
Logos is an appeal to logic and reason. It relies on evidence, facts, and clear reasoning to present a strong, rational argument that builds understanding and trust.
Digging into Rhetorical Strategies and Devices
Beyond appeals, specific techniques can greatly affect communication. Many authors use rhetorical techniques to influence their audience.
Here are some common ones:
- Alliteration: Repeating initial sounds in words, like using the same letter to start each of your points.
- Metaphor: For instance “The world’s a stage”. This helps an audience better visualize an abstract concept.
- Repetition: Intentionally reusing words or phrases for emphasis. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech uses repetition extensively.
- Rhetorical Questions: Questions posed for effect, not requiring an answer, making the audience ponder.
The goal is to determine if the message effectively reached its target audience. You want to evaluate if they employed a strong rhetorical method for the audience.
Performing the Rhetorical Analysis
Now you understand the components of a rhetorical analysis, it is time to begin. This involves both analyzing and evaluating as a viewer or reader. It’s about assessing whether the actions taken and the intended message reached its intended destination effectively. How did the tone of the communication influence the outcome?
Step-by-Step Process:
-
Engage Actively With the Material
Begin by carefully reading or watching the content, keeping in mind the intended audience. Your goal is to understand not just what is being communicated, but how that specific audience would likely perceive and react to the message. Make note of any initial emotional reactions, especially from the audience’s perspective. These first impressions often reveal how effectively the material captures attention or stirs emotion. Afterward, take a moment to reflect on your immediate thoughts and feelings. This spontaneous response is key to understanding the content’s initial impact before diving deeper into analysis.
-
Break Down the Core Elements
Identify the target audience and support your identification with specific evidence from the material. Then evaluate how effectively the content is tailored to that audience—did it resonate, or fall flat? Consider the author or speaker next: do the message and the messenger align in a credible and convincing way? Assess the overall strategic choices made by the author—what was their goal, and how well did they achieve it? Also reflect on the medium itself: is the chosen format (video, article, speech, etc.) well-suited to the message and audience? Provide reasoning to support whether the mode helped or hindered the communication.
-
Evaluate the Rhetorical Appeals
Analyze how the content builds trust and establishes credibility (ethos). Is the author seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy by their intended audience? Examine the emotional aspect of the message (pathos)—did it stir any feelings, positive or negative, and how might these affect how the audience receives the message? Finally, evaluate the logic and reasoning within the message (logos). Are the arguments well-structured, supported with evidence, and persuasive? Each appeal plays a role in influencing the audience, and recognizing their strengths and weaknesses is vital to the analysis.
-
Consider the Overall Effectiveness
Take a step back and evaluate how well the message works as a whole. Were there any weak points or missed opportunities that could have made the argument stronger? Be specific in identifying areas that could use improvement, and consider how alternative arguments or evidence might have helped the author make their case more effectively. Conclude by offering at least two practical, audience-focused suggestions that could strengthen the message. These should be constructive insights that show where the content failed to convince or engage its audience, and how those shortcomings might be addressed.
Putting it All Together
Now that you’ve analyzed these factors, you can put everything together into a cohesive analysis of rhetorical technique. This exercise can be immensely helpful in improving your own public speaking and writing skills.
Find Out Exactly How Much You Could Make As a Paid Speaker
Use The Official Speaker Fee Calculator to tell you what you should charge for your first (or next) speaking gig — virtual or in-person!
Conclusion
Rhetoric is crucial in marketing and business, and performing a rhetorical analysis can be an incredibly helpful exercise to understanding it better. This significantly enhances your communication abilities and empowers you to wield rhetoric more effectively in your own writings and speeches.
