The Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama's Presidential Campaign Speeches

This thesis aims to provide a rhetorical analysis of Obama's presidential campaign speeches. In the past two years, Barack Obama has caught the eyes all over the world. His eloquence in public speeches is often compared with that of the great orators such as President Lincoln and Martin Luther King. Obama's success can be attributed to many factors, of which the rhetorical factor can by no means be omitted. He is a proficient master of both the traditional and modern rhetorical techniques. This thesis bases its theory on Aristotle's three artistic proofs, namely the ethical appeal (ethos), the pathetical appeal (pathos) and the logical appeal (logos). The application analysis of the three appeals will be conducted both qualitatively and quantitatively, as some analysis involves computer-based counting. The analyzed examples are all selected from the ten speeches that the author deems to be the most representative. In the second half of the thesis, the author will analyze the application of rhetorical devices (figures of speech) and attempt to explain how these figures of speech help Obama achieve the effects of ethos, pathos and logos. In the thesis, all the rhetorical devices are generalized into roughly three categories:lexical devices, syntactical devices and phonetic devices. Also in the thesis, a rhetorical explanation is suggested to explain Obama's declining approval rating.In the thesis, Chapter one is on the purpose, organization and research questions of the present study. Chapter two involves the literature review which mainly deals with the rhetorical tradition of American political speeches and reviews the previous studies on Obama speeches. Chapter three presents the method and data used in the thesis. Chapter four goes in details in elaborating the definitions of the three appeals and how Obama has employed them to in persuasion. Chapter five analyzes the three categories of figures of speeches and shows how they are helpful in achieving the effects of ethos, pathos and logos. Chapter six is conclusion, which deals with Obama's approval rating and other findings as well as the restrictions of the thesis.