Illustrate your rhetorical analysis skills by analyzing one of the following speeches from an unusual source: an award show speech. Although these speeches are brief, each offers an argument with structure and factual evidence (logos), authorial credibility (ethos), and details that appeal to emotions (pathos).
Your assignment is to identify EACH of the three rhetorical appeals in ONE of the speeches below and describe their impact. Remember that, with any given element, there is often an overlap between two or three rhetorical appeals.
Also, remember that there are transcripts available for each of these speeches via YouTube: Go to the video’s page at YouTube.com, click the three-dot menu, and choose “Show transcript.” You’ll need to remove the time signatures and add punctuation to quote them in your analysis.
Requirements:
- 300+ word analysis
- Analyze the speech’s use of logos, ethos, and pathos (roughly 200 words).
- Analyze the speaker’s attempt to target a specific audience (roughly 75 words).
- Explain your opinion on the effectiveness of the speech (roughly 25 words).
Choose one speech:
Matthew McConaughey at the Oscars, winning “Best Actor” for Dallas Buyers Club (speech begins at 1:22).
Bono at the NAACP Source Awards (speech begins at 4:50).
Roberto Benigni at the Oscars, winning “Best Actor” for Life Is Beautiful (watch the entire video).