The Triangle of Rhetoric in Macbeth

Stephanie Michael

Ms. Miller

10th Grade Honors Literature and Composition

10 March, 2017

A Delicate Balance

        Throughout much of history, persuasion has been one of the most prominent attributes of a successful person of importance. Without persuasion, most civilization or gathering of people would be extremely less successful, because persuasion is the key element in leadership. Today, the idea of persuasion has been explored and narrowed down to three key elements: ethos, the credibility and credentials of the author or speaker; pathos, the emotional connections and experiences of the author or speaker; and logos, the evidence and intellectual supporting claims that the author or speaker exploits during his or her writing or speech. Though one or two of the previous elements of leadership may seem more effective at persuading an audience than the others, a successful leader, such as Mark Antony from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Malala, and Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is necessary for the speaker or writer to utilize all three aspects of leadership.

        In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, one of the protagonists, Mark Antony, delivers a moving speech at Caesar’s funeral, which eventually causes his audience to believe that Caesar and Brutis were traitors and dishonorable men. Antony relies on all three aspects of leadership and public speaking to be able to change the minds of his audience. He begins his speech by addressing the audience, which is very common, but instead of saying a traditional welcome, he begins with “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”, which emphasizes Antony’s charisma and adds to his ethos (III. ii. 1). Later within his speech, Antony descends into the crowd to prove that he is on the same level as the people he’s speaking to. Antony connects with the audience with his actions through pathos, advancing his influence on the people. Finally, Antony speaks to his audience throughout his speech with a heightened level of intelligence. His logos are apparent in the language he uses along with the emphasis of certain words such as when he continuously calls Brutis “an honorable man”, which convinces his audience that he’s more intelligent and experienced than he.

        Shakespeare forms another successful leader in another one of his works as well. Even though she isn’t seen as a typical leader, Lady Macbeth still uses persuasive language and action when convincing Macbeth to kill King Duncan. During Lady Macbeth and her husband’s argument, Lady Macbeth mostly relies on pathos and ethos, but also combines her arguments with logos. First, using pathos, Lady Macbeth pokes fun at Macbeth for not being able to kill the king himself. She calls Macbeth “green and pale”, which points out his cowardice. Secondly, she is Macbeth’s wife, so her ethos at the beginning of her argument is already elevated. Finally, she uses logos when she tells Macbeth of all the advantages of killing the king.