Intro to Part One of the RT

The birth of rhetoric was tied to the development of social organizations and new forms of government. As city states began to expand to different areas, the development o trade caused the wealth o come individuals to increase. Because of the power that came with wealth, these individuals were able to buy support to become the next ruler, thus making the current way of government unstable. With all the governmental changes that were taking place, it was difficult to bring order to society , or to agree on a common way for things to be done. Oration was used in order to persuade an audience to conform to one thing or idea to to the next. I think it is very interesting how rhetoric as oration developed in a culture where hardly anyone was literate, and the only way to get a piece of information across on any given matter was through speech. We see tough this that rhetoric reflects whatever culture that it is immersed into. For example, in modern America we are very big on consuming products. The consumption of products is a result from the advertisements of these products. Advertising has everything to do with visual rhetoric. Visual rhetoric is a genre that did not exist during the time of oration, or during the time that oral rhetoric was being transitioned into its written form, because such visual advertisements were not a part of the culture during those times.

General Introduction of the RT

Rhetoric and all it in tails is hard to place into a single definition simply because it is always changing. It has been called the practice of oratory, the study of the strategies of effective oratory, the study of the persuasive effects of language, and many more. Each of these definitions are true, as each touch on a point of what rhetoric has been, currently is, and will be in the future. The general introduction of the RT covers the changes that have been made in rhetoric over time, starting with the origin of rhetoric at the end of the 4th century B.C., all the way to what we now call modern and post modern rhetoric. During the time of classical rhetoric, Aristotle came up with specific rhetorical elements that were used in the preparation of writing a speech. These are; invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery. These elements have been used from the time of their birth until present as the fundamental building blocks of rhetoric, though the means of application have changes. For example, Boethius has taken Aristotles' classical element of invention and expanded on it so that it applies to more things than just speech, such as writing. A reason for this could be due to the importance of invention itself, as it appeals to the logic of the audience and logical appeals are considered to be more important than emotional an ethical appeals. Rhetoric seems to change along with culture, as it originated in a culture where hardly anyone was literate, and the best way to get something across to someone was through the spoken word.