Rhetoric is a word originating from the Greek term rhetorike, which means the art of speaking well, if communicate clearly and get convey ideas with conviction.
Rhetoric is an area related to oratory and dialectic, and refers to a group of norms that make a speaker communicate with eloquence. It aims to express ideas in a more effective and beautiful way, and is also responsible for increasing persuasiveness.
Rhetoric corresponds to the formulation of a thought through speech and therefore depends largely on the speaker's mental capacity. Rhetoric can be practiced and that is why it was taught in various schools of antiquity, which approached rhetoric and its different styles, which changed depending on the type of discourse in question.
For a long time, rhetoric was one of the foundations of the education of young people, and during the Middle Ages, it was taught in universities, being part of the three liberal arts, together with the logic and grammar. Rhetoric has also had a strong influence in areas such as poetry and politics.
According to rhetoric, the speech can be divided into five crucial parts:
- invention: the set of all content-related principles;
- disposition: which corresponds to the structuring of content forms;
- utterance: expression of content according to the appropriate style;
- fixation: consists of memorizing the speech in question;
- action: the act of delivering the speech.
In ancient Greece, the body language of the speaker was also very important, more specifically the posture, gestures and the speaker's own voice. In Classical Greece, Protagoras and Tisias contributed to the progress of rhetoric, based on the well-known work of Aristotle, entitled Rhetoric.
In the Middle Ages, rhetoric was not considered in its practical aspect, being used almost exclusively for the study of texts. During the Renaissance and Baroque, rhetoric had great preponderance in literary discourse and was an essential element in the study of the humanities (Philosophy, Grammar, etc.).
Considered by many to be Greece's greatest orator ever, Demosthenes is an important figure related to rhetoric. As proof that rhetoric is a practice and therefore can be perfected, Demosthenes had to overcome his stutter. For this, the story tells that one of his activities was to make speeches with stones in his mouth.
In some cases, the word rhetoric can be used with a pejorative sense, which can be used to describe a useless discussion, or presumption by a particular person.
Rhetorical question
A rhetorical question is a question that doesn't always require an answer. Often, the person asking the rhetorical question simply intends to emphasize some idea or point of view.
For example: "Do you think I was born yesterday?" In this case, the person who hears the question already knows the answer, however, the question is asked only to make an impact. In the above example, the person asking is intended to inform the listener that he is not stupid or naive, and that he cannot be easily fooled.