Pathos

1
Pathos

• An appeal to an audiences sense of identity,
  their self-interest, and their emotions.

2
Pathos is Powerful

• Pathos may be the strongest of the rhetorical
  appeals. We are very easily swayed by our
  feelings, more than our logic most of the time!
• This means pathos is powerful for the rhetor, but
  dangerous for an audience.

3
Identify with your audience

• How do you relate to this audience? (Need to
  analyze the audience!)
• How can you feel their pain?
• Common interests
• Common fears
• Common values
• Common spaces

4
How to appeal to emotion

• Create the emotion!
• Describe the scene or event
• Use powerful, clear words and details.
• Employ values like justice, fairness, etc.

5
Things to Consider with Pathos

• What information does my audience already have
  and/or what do I need to give them to help them
  make decisions on my issue?
• What interest do they have in this subject? How
  can I make them interested in this subject?
• What is important to my audience? Is that also
  important to me? Whats in common?

6
More things . . .

• What are the hopes and goals of my audience? How
  do those relate to my subject?
• What values does my audience hold? What do they
  fear? Cherish? What arouses their pity or anger?
• What are some particularly provocative images or
  words or examples that will get this audience
  going?

7
One more thing

• How does my audience imagine itself? Good?
  Religious? Philanthropic? Open-minded? Fair?
  Democratic? Republican? Logical? Creative?