This may not be a well articulated exposition which elucidates the intricacies of a rhetoric, but this is rhetoric as I understand it.
Rhetoric is the art 0f discovering the available means of persuasion and using them to convince your audience.Traditionally, rhetoric was used by speakers to defend oneself, accuse an opponent and persuade the audience. Contemporary rhetoric is used to investigate the tones of human discourse.
The structure of Aristotelian rhetoric is determined by two tripartite divisions:
1) Distinction among the three means of persuasion:
- Ethos - the character of the speaker
- Pathos - the emotional state of the listener
- Logos - the argument itself
2) The three species of public speech:
- Deliberative species - the speaker deliberates on the pros and cons of the subject at hand and lets the audience come to a conclusion
- Judicial species - the speaker defends or accuses somebody and lets the jury decide whether the event in question is legal or extra-legal
- Epideictic species - the speaker describes the deeds of a person as honourable or shameful, there is no controversial situation that needs to be resolved
