Rhetorical criticism

Rhetorical criticism is a practice at least as old as Plato. In the Phaedrus, Plato has Socrates examine a speech by Lysias to determine whether or not it is praiseworthy. Rhetorical criticism analyzes symbolic artifacts (including words, phrases, images, gestures, performances, texts and films in general) to discover how, and how well, they work. Also, how they instruct, inform, entertain, move, arouse, perform, convince, persuade and might improve their audience. In short, rhetorical criticism seeks to understand how symbols act on people. Through the process of criticism, a rhetorician defines, classifies, analyzes, interprets and evaluates a rhetorical artifact. Through this process a critic explores, by means of various approaches, the manifest and latent meaning of a piece of rhetoric thereby offering further insight into the field of rhetorical studies and into an artifact or rhetor specifically. Such an analysis, for example may reveal the particular motivations or ideologies of a rhetor, how he or she interprets the aspects of a rhetorical situation, or how cultural ideologies are manifested in an artifact. It could also demonstrate how the constraints of a particular situation shape the rhetoric that responds to it. Certain approaches also examine how rhetorical elements compare with the traditional elements of a narrative or drama. Generally speaking, the average audience member lacks the knowledge or experience to recognize rhetoric at first glance. Therefore, one of the more important functions of rhetorical studies is establishing an artifact as rhetorical to begin with. This involves establishing the rhetorical aspects of the artifact itself (exigence, constraints, audience, persuasive potential, etc.) as well as the rhetorical situation that prompted it. A

rhetorician should draw comparisons with other established works of rhetoric to determine how well the artifact fits into a particular category or if it redefines the constraints of that category as well as how the elements illuminate the motivation and perspectives of a rhetor.

Notable Rhetorical Criticism Scholars

Aristotle Kenneth Burke Edwin Black Lloyd Bitzer Celeste Condit Sonja Foss Walter Fisher Michael McGee Herbert Wichelns