Rhetoric and the Power of the Word

In TMA 201 (History of Performance, Ancient to Renaissance), we briefly learned the history of rhetoricians, actors, and the society's interactions around them in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

In Ancient Greece, actors and rhetoricians seemed to run the society. Playwrights were generally powerful and actors were as well. Philosophers, especially Socrates and Plato, disliked this. They saw the level of power in rhetoricians as over-invested, and expected them to do evil with their unwarranted power. Socrates was recorded as mocking orators and saying at the trial for his life that he should be judged by the facts, not by his oratory skills. Plato said the ideal state would not have actors, and complained of the power of rhetoricians in the execution of his mentor, Socrates.

In the Roman Empire, actors were considered below society and rhetoric was the art of state leaders. Cicero's explanations of rhetoric would be used in the Renaissance and is still used as a basis text for some on the art of rhetoric. Thankfully, we are learning it without translations and two thousand years in between us and Cicero, but in more tangible terms.

Because of the nature of modern communication, it is not easy nor acceptable to do what the Romans and Greeks did: pay someone to get on the anachronistic soap box and make a speech for your cause in the marketplace. Probably the closest analogy of rhetoricians to our society are salesmen/saleswomen. And who doesn't love them?

Trying to force across one's opinion isn't usually a favorable task. One seeking wealth will better find it through years of purposeful education rather than political speeches for support, in contrast to these ancient societies with rhetoricians that would support anything for the right price. But we will be trying to persuade someone in many discussions, even if we are truly in the right. A remark in one of my Chemical Engineering classes was something to the effect of "It's not good enough to be right, you have to convince your boss you're right as well."

Although rhetoric is not a word commonly in our mind, the art of persuasion is used do a degree in everything we do, and is essential to our success, from résumés to teaching. In order to profit from this, we must use our words precisely and skillfully, remembering what we wish to convey to the other side.