The Qualities Of A Prince Rhetorical Analysis

Aristotle’s Rhetorical Appeals Aristotle came up with a persuasive pattern we see in media all over called, rhetorical appeals. Ethos, logos, and pathos are seen in various types of media, ads, magazines, and many more. In “The Qualities of a Prince” an excerpt by Niccolò Machiavelli, he informs us about how a prince is able to hold his title and position and how to maintain the power that he has over the people. He uses past experiences for examples on how to maintain power. In Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore, he tries to incorporate the rhetorical appeals into his argument about power. In order to use these appeals he shows how the government has abused capitalism and gains the viewers trust by using persuasive patterns. Each
Ethos being the first of the three rhetorical appeals is very important when trying to maintain your audience’s interest. Machiavelli does a great job of persuading his audience with the ethos appeal. An example Machiavelli uses to persuade his audience with ethos is found in “The Qualities of a Prince”, “If we examine this carefully, we shall see that he was more merciful than the Florentine people, who in order to avoid being considered cruel, allowed the destruction of Pistoia” (Machiavelli, 43). Ethos is presented here by showing an example from past history on how someone in power had messed up by being too merciful than the Florentine people. By using these examples Machiavelli uses ethos to show the past history and he is able to gain the trust from his audience because of the knowledge he demonstrates on different instances that have happened in other ruler’s pasts. Michael Moore is able to appeal to his audience by using ethos as well as
This appeal draws the audience in with emotion and makes the audience feel empathy and sympathy for the issue. Machiavelli is able to get through to his audience using pathos by bringing up the issues of whether or not it is better to be loved or feared as well as despised and hated. These two examples and the way Machiavelli writes about them gives the audience a chance to think about what they would want if they were trying to be a ruler; also what they would want as a citizen (Machiavelli). By reaching out to his audience Machiavelli is able to emotionally persuade people that it is best for a ruler to chose whether he wants to be loved by his people so he can stay in power. The other idea Machiavelli brings up is to be feared in order to gain respect and to make sure that no one tries to overrule. In the film by Michael Moore the way he uses pathos is a different way than Machiavelli. Instead of giving the audience a chance to think about what they would want Moore shows horrible things that have happened to people because of capitalism. This includes the people in the beginning of the film who are being evicted from their homes that they have grown up in and have always lived in (Capitalism: A Love Story). While using pathos he also manages to slip in ethos by showing that two different people in opposite situations are going through the same thing because of capitalism. Moore shows the person in