A Rhetorical Stance is a writer or speaker’s position concerning the context of the situation, speaker or writer. It is a concept that is more active than a rhetorical situation since a rhetorical stance indicates a position taken to utilize the rhetorical appeals, contextual circumstances, as well as the exploitation of the rhetorical audience and subject with the sole intention of persuasion. Wayne C. Booth is an author who wrote the “Rhetorical Stance” to engage his readers in thinking thoroughly and feel his ideas. According to Booth, no one could write a decent paper until the rhetorical problem is solved and that would be “until, that is, he had found a definition of his audience, his argument, and his proper tone of voice” (Booth 139).
Also, it aims at making the authors and speakers to find the most appropriate stance by being aware of the communication style they use, as well as their strengths and weaknesses to satisfy the needs of their audience. Besides, it is a necessity for authors to be consciously and unconsciously aware of the needs and characters of the intended audience to find the most proper stance. Besides, authors must have a deeper understanding of their persona to be able to control their tone and style. Despite the analysis of various authors creating credible ethos to reach the appropriate stance, Booth’s “The Rhetorical Stance” uses various rhetorical methods and style to analyze the ways a writer can be a good and ethical rhetorician. This paper analyzes the content of Booth’s “The Rhetorical Stance” while scrutinizing the main points that he uses to educate writers on coming up with the best rhetorical stance in their works.
Rhetorical Analysis of the Content
According to Booth, “The Rhetorical Stance” is the balance of the subject, writer, and reader. Therefore, for a student to write a more effective essay, he or she needs to be taught ways to adapt correctly to the perfect rhetorical stance for every piece they write, including the subject it is about, the audience they write for and the appropriate voice to use. “It is a stance that depends on discovering and maintaining in any writing situation a proper balance among the elements that are at work in any communicative effort” (Booth 141). A writer needs to follow all the elements of writing to result in a perfect rhetorical stance. Besides, the writing does not have to be rhetoric to be a good piece of writing. Instead, one need to apply Booth’s elements to come up with excellent compositions that focus on the intended message, the reader, and the voice.
Booth demonstrates the balance between the three corrupt stances by paying enough attention to each element. The Pendant’s stance, advertiser’s stance, and entertainer’s stance are positions taken by rhetoricians. According to Booth, such rhetoricians are those “who assume that it is enough merely to write an exposition of what he happens to know on the subject will produce the kind of essay that soils our scholarly journals, written not for readers but bibliographies” (Booth 141). Consequently, a true rhetorician's stance is usually more evident when contrasted with other corrupt, unbalanced positions that are often assumed by those that think they are practicing to be persuasive.
He refers to the first one as the “pendants stance.” It is a case where the writer concentrates more on the topic that he or she forgets about the reader. He or she completely ignores the audience and speaker’s personal relationship and instead focuses on the subject’s statements. Booth uses the example of the persuasive literature papers written by students who are only interested in good grades and hence have no rhetorical purpose having their instructor as the only audience to the work (Booth 142). In such a case the writer lacks a rhetorical purpose and lets the facts to lay themselves out making the writing dull and boring since it does not link with the audience.
He refers to the second one as the “advertiser’s stance” that the writer concentrates more on the reader that he or she ends up forgetting about the topic. More often than not, the writer undervalues the subject and alternatively overvalues the effects it has on the audience. Moreover, Booth points out that “this stance is probably in the long run a more grave threat to our society than the danger of ignoring the audience” (Booth 143). In such a case, the writer would do anything to influence the audience and make his or her work seem appealing even when it has no real substance. Besides, the advertiser’s stance is well known for deception. Hence, the writer may sacrifice some integrity only to persuade the audience.
And thirdly, the “entertainer’s stance” is one that entails the writers loss of sight on both the reader and the topic while writing. Moreover, to have an effective rhetorical stance, a writer needs actually to unite the pendant's stance and the advertiser's stance. That is, he or she needs to know more of the subject and speak of it passionately using rhetorical devices to strengthen the argument (Booth 145). Booth, therefore, points out that a writer can be successful incorporates his or her voice, the reader, and the subject by avoiding the three corrupt stances.
Conclusion
The perfect balance in writing is not to completely disregard the audience or either to give them too much consideration to the point of overbearing. To discover and maintain a rhetorical stance depends on how well a writer balances the possible arguments, the audience interests, and the speaker’s voice. This concept is Wayne C. Booth’s opinion of the rhetorical stance. Moreover, he analyzes the sources of dangerous rhetoric to aid writers in creating good works since a good one should always remember the audience, keep a steady and credible character, and develop a sound argument. Besides, a skilled rhetorician should be able to establish a perfect balance of the concepts and be able to define it as a unique art since he must first to be able to create it. More importantly, a skilled rhetorician must be able to apply rhetoric to make his works unique.
Booth’s “The Rhetorical Stance” is the best rhetorical essay ever since more often than not individuals unconsciously understand the meaning of a rhetoric stance through the development of their communication style and skills by learning ways to express themselves and ultimately gain something. It is through a process like this that speakers and authors take to examine a rhetoric situation so as deeply to understand their ethos, topic, and their audience's needs. This article presents a writer with great struggles and at the same time points him or her in the right direction. Therefore, is an article that uses its techniques in a great way so as to have a positive impact on the reader.
Works Cited
Booth, Wayne C. "The Rhetorical Stance". College Composition and Communication 14.3 (1963): 139-145. Web.
