Pathos An appeal to an audience’s sense of identity, their self-interest, and their emotions.

Pathos is Powerful Pathos may be the strongest of the rhetorical appeals. We are very easily swayed by our feelings, more than our logic most of the time! This means pathos is powerful for the rhetor, but dangerous for an audience.

Identify with your audience How do you relate to this audience? (Need to analyze the audience!) How can you “feel their pain”? – Common interests – Common fears – Common values – Common spaces

How to appeal to emotion Create the emotion! – Describe the scene or event – Use powerful, clear words and details. – Employ values like justice, fairness, etc.

Things to Consider with Pathos What information does my audience already have and/or what do I need to give them to help them make decisions on my issue? What interest do they have in this subject? How can I make them interested in this subject? What is important to my audience? Is that also important to me? What’s in common?

More things... What are the hopes and goals of my audience? How do those relate to my subject? What values does my audience hold? What do they fear? Cherish? What arouses their pity or anger? What are some particularly provocative images or words or examples that will get this audience going?

One more thing How does my audience imagine itself? Good? Religious? Philanthropic? Open-minded? Fair? Democratic? Republican? Logical? Creative?