If I had to define rhetorical situation in one word --- TIMING
In the reading about rhetorical situation one thing really stood out to me.
'Clement Attlee once said that Winston Churchill went around
looking for "finest hours." The point to observe is that he found
them - the crisis situations - and spoke in response to them.'
These "finest hours" are where rhetoric and timing come together to create a rhetorical situation. In order for a speech to really mean something, it must be delivered with impeccable timing and to an appropriate audience. I would argue that timing and audience go hand in hand. As with any great speech in history these two attributes must be present for the address to be relevant and moving.
I want to know what everyone thinks. When talking about rhetorical situation, can good timing and an appropriate audience be separated, and if so, which is more important?
I think that you can separate them but would not be effective. The audience would be more important because timing is different for everyone. Meaning some people are responsive at unique times. its all chance but its unwise to separate them.
ReplyDeleteTiming is definitely of utmost importance in today's world, because of how quickly we can communicate. What is important today could lose its relevance quickly, so the opportunity to respond could be lost if not acted upon immediately. That being said, you must have a captive audience too, otherwise, you don't have a rhetorical situation.
ReplyDeleteI guess it would be possible to be separated, but the outcome could possibly be pointless due to audience lack of understanding or interest. It also seems as though if you didn't have the appropriate audience then the timing is not right either. This argument in itself between audience and timing could turn into a persuasive situation.
ReplyDeleteThe timing would be more important. I believe the speech itself is also very important. If a great speech is delivered, the timing could manage to be off slightly and the audience would not need to be as distinct. The situation needs to be dealt with in some way or another eventually.
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