Character is the power of a speaker. As a speaker, your ability to use that power quite well was first prescribed in an ancient art form perfected by the Greeks – the art of Rhetoric. Some of the most well-known philosophy comes from the Athenian thinker, Aristotle, who believed that people had a natural penchant for the truth. He called it rhetoric – the ability to see the available means of persuasion on the speaker’s part.
The available means of persuasion for you are basically three elements – you, the talk and the audience. In The DK Guide to Public Speaking, Lisa A. Ford-Brown contends that Aristotle believed that the character of the speaker, the emotional state of the listener, and the argument itself – the talk – collate to achieve the persuasion process. He sagely said that the speaker has three powers: ethos, logos and pathos. Again,
Aristotle introduced the concept of mythos as the fourth appeal that can be used in persuasion. The best presenters find a way to blend the three powers, that is – who they are, what they say, and how they say it.
- Ethos — Ethics
Ethos cascades to ethics. It is the power of personal character. Your character is in your shared self. Your story adds glory and gravitas to the speech. The best presenters communicate naturally as real people. They do not fake it until they make it or try to be people they are not. People believe in speeches delivered by speakers who are authentic. Taking note of ethics in speech presentation increases your credibility as a sage when you surge to the stage. It is what will make listeners accept your good ideas.
Moreover, ethos is the credibility inspired by the speaker’s character or what Aristotle termed as moral character. An orator or rhetor can present a cogent argument (logos) and strong emotional appeal (pathos), but if the audience questions his/her character (ethics), s/he will face hurdles in persuading them. The key to using your credibility effectively is to realise that it abuts on how the audience views the presenter. In the distant past, Aristotle claimed that the speaker’s credibility evolved from competency and character.
In modern times, a third trait, charisma — has been recognised. Basically, competency is the audience’s perception of how knowledgeable the presenter is about the topic. The presenter achieves this dimension by citing educational qualifications, expertise and experiences. Character focuses on the audience’s perception of the speaker’s intentions and of the concern about the audience. The glaring question is: Do they see the presenter as trustworthy, objective, honest and similar to them? Finding wonderful ways to connect with the audience absolutely builds character. Also, charisma is the audience’s perception of the personality of a presenter. Do they see him/her as energetic, friendly, approachable, vocally as well as physically pleasing? Therefore, as a speaker, you should be confident, assertive in a positive manner.
- Logos — Truth
Logos refers to the logic, words, reasons and argument. It is imperative that everything that the speaker says fits together like links in a chain or pieces of a jig-saw puzzle to form a coherent statement. The human ability to use logic can be a powerful persuasive tool. When the speaker appeals to logic or logos — s/he appeals to the listener’s ability to reason through statistics, facts and expert testimony to arrive at a logical conclusion. Therefore, good speakers engage in reasoning because it is what rational thinking humans do in order to access success in rhetoric or to just justify beliefs and acts. Building a tight argument influences people’s behaviour, values and attitudes (mindset plus beliefs).
When you think through and plan your pep talk, you should organise your points in a special sequence. That is, from the general to the particular; from the start to the conclusion; with each point building on each previous point to form an air-tight argument. Logos is the power of proving truth through logic. During speech presentation, truth is in your argument and knowledge. Sometimes, you may need in-depth research to prove your points. Other times, you may not need intense research to support your thoughts.
As long as you can present enough evidence of the truth in the best way you know, that is how you demonstrate logos, or your reasoning capacity. In case you do not present with reason, the audience will quickly dismiss you as unqualified orator or rhetor. Any talk, no matter how long it is, is truth-telling. The more the truth you tell, the more convinced your audience is to your message. A preacher speaks with the evidence of the sacred scriptures. A professor brings copious research and case studies to the fore. Through humble preamble, an introducer brings knowledge of the speaker being introduced. A lawyer hinges the argument on the law or constitution. A counsellor relies heavily on psychological facts while going lyrical.
- Pathos — Emotion
Pathos is the power to stir up emotions in the listener(s). It is the emotional content of your argument, and is perhaps the most important part. It is only when you connect emotionally and move people at a fundamental level that you can motivate them to take a particular action or choose a certain stance. Your emotional appeal is in people’s minds and hearts. Of the four — Ethos, logos, mythos and pathos — Pathos is the least predictable. You can learn to share your character and select your arguments more readily than you can pick up on the nuances of an audience. How will they react? How will they feel? What will they think about? This power is only perfected through patience, persistence and practice. The speaker must also learn to listen aptly to be fed with feedback.
An appeal to pathos deals with listener’s emotions. In other words, you can use your audience’s sympathy and imagination to influence their values and attitudes. Consequently, eliciting your audience’s emotions, is a conjuring process and not a command per se. You achieve this important part through vivid description and employment of emotive language to stir the audience’s sense of fear, sympathy, empathy, happiness, bliss or anger. Vivid description, especially from trusted experts who have first-hand knowledge, can be very emotive and moving. Spell-binding orators who were called to speak during extraordinary times, all evoked powerful emotional images spiced with sacred scriptures. Albeit, it may seem unethical to play with your audience’s emotions, pundits have argued that logic may not be enough to compel people to act.
- Mythos — History and Culture
Somewhat, mythos relates to a sense of one’s history in the larger culture and the need to be a member of that particular culture. For instance, our sense of what it means to be a woman or a man evolves from community-accepted understanding of what is valued in women and men. Other aspects of our cultural identity have a mythical appeal as well. By and large, most cultures create and perpetuate their mythic identity into the stories they weave into legends, folktales, music and poetry. When you appeal to mythos in a speech, you often use narratives (stories) to create a strong sense of cultural identity, which, in turn, tickles the audience to the core.
© Victor Ochieng’
The writer trains people on how to speak in public. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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