Com275 Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane: Bias, Fallacies, Rhetorical Devices, and Arguments

The speech "Charles Foster Kane Campaigns for Governor," is rife with bias, full of fallacies, and uses numerous rhetorical devices, yet comes across as a very convincing argument for Kane as Governor nonetheless!   From the beginning the speaker demonstrates a particular bias against the current Governor, Jim Gettys, by blatantly labeling his rule as 'evil domination'. This term indicates clear bias by the Campaigner, who is equally biased about, but in favor of Kane, depicting him as an ally of the common man. The campaigner bases his argument on his or her own personal preference but states no supporting facts.

A theme of the speech which contains the argumentum ad populum fallacy is that Kane is a friend of the common man or lower class. One of the most prominent fallacies is the argument that Kane seems to have already been predetermined to win the Governorship. Since the election has not even begun, this is certainly fallacious, and specifically the fallacy of irrelevant conclusion. It is a purely personal consideration, argumentum ad hominem. The next fallacy is Kane's assertion that he wants to protect the underprivileged, followed by the disclaimer that he's too busy to make specific promises. This technique of making circular arguments is a fallacy known as circulus in probando.
The speech also includes the use of multiple rhetorical devices such as several instances of the expletive type where a word or short phrase is used to dramatically breaks the normal flow of speech, emphasizing the words prior to the expletive. The Asyndeton type of rhetorical device, where conjunctions between words are omitted to give the effect of extemporaneousness is used in the passage where Kane says ""with one purpose only: to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy, of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine -- now in complete control of the government of this State". The device of... [continues]

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