Aristotle Oratory: Judicial, Deliberative and Epideictic (Essay Sample)

Student's name
Institution
Instructor
Date
Communication
Aristotle divided oratory into three categories; judicial, deliberative and epideictic. He further identified the three proofs of rhetoric as ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos stems from the observation that an audience can only be persuaded when they respect the author. Ethos, therefore, is concerned about the credibility of an individual. It also appeals to the personal character that the author possesses. He has to be respected and liked by an audience for him to persuade them. Pathos is more inclined towards emotion. In this case, the author has to make sure he appeals to how the audience feels. He has to be in touch with their emotions and use them for persuasion. Logos is ideally the use of logic or reason. The audience should be able to find logic in the subject under speculation.
Aristotle explained that an audience is always in a state of doubt and needs to be reassured. He argued that rhetoric is not used as a means of manipulation, but rather, a way of helping an audience to decide and remove any ounce of doubt. Rhetoric gives room for conclusiveness in a subject matter that would otherwise not be there.
Plato was of the view that rhetoric was a way in which an audience was told what they needed or wanted to hear. Plato