Rhetorical Situation

Question 1

Lloyd Bitzer’s Definition of Rhetoric (1968)

Answer 1

• Meaning is created in context
• Premise: ‘Situation” has not been theorized in rhetoric.
• “The rhetor alters reality by bringing to existence a discourse of such character that the audience, in thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes the mediator of change.”

Question 2

Bitzer’s Three Assumptions

Answer 2

1) Rhetoric is situational.
2) Rhetoric is practical.
3) Rhetoric can alter reality.

Question 3

Blitzer’s 3 Assumptions: Rhetoric as Situational

Answer 3

• The need for rhetoric comes from somewhere (events)
• Ex: Hurricane Katrina causes mass destruction in the south
• Response needed: Victims need to help/ support. If President doesn’t speak to address issues, there will be problems.

Question 4

Blitzer’s 3 Assumptions: Rhetoric as Practical

Answer 4

• Rhetoric comes about for a specific purpose or meaning.

- Ex: Offering messages of hope to the people after Hurricane Katrina

Question 5

Blitzer’s 3 Assumptions: Rhetoric as Altering Reality

Answer 5

• When done effectively, rhetoric can frame how we make sense of/ define an event for mass audiences

Question 6

Rhetorical Situation Formal Defn

Answer 6

“Rhetorical situation may be defined as a complex
of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting
an actual or potential exigence which can be
completely or partially removed if discourse,
introduced into the situation, can so constrain
human decision or action as to bring about the
significant modification of the exigence”

Question 7

Rhetorical Situation: exigence

Answer 7

• “an imperfection marked by urgency

- The thing that happens that needs a response or address

Question 8

Rhetorical Situation: audience

Answer 8

• The people who are capable of being mediators of change in a particular event
• Rhetoric requires audience

Question 9

Rhetorical Situation: constraint

Answer 9

things that have the power to limit how a rhetor can respond to a situation

Question 10

non-rhetorical exigence

Answer 10

a problem that cannot be changed through discourse

Question 11

rhetorical exigence

Answer 11

problem that CAN be changed through discourse

Question 12

controlling exigence

Answer 12

the primary exigence in the situation, functions as the organizing principle

Question 13

artistic constraints

Answer 13

things MANAGED BY THE RHETOR that have the power to constrain a decision

Question 14

inartistic constraints

Answer 14

things OUT OF THE RHETOR’S CONTROL that have the power to constrain a decision

Question 15

All Elements of Rhetorical Situation

Answer 15

• Exigence
• Audience
• Constraints
• Complexity
• Timing
  a) maturity
  b) decay
  c) expiration
• Fitting response

Question 16

Rhetorical Situation: complexity

Answer 16

• There are different audiences that have to be responded to, multiple exigences that need to be addressed
• Ex: Challenger explosion has many audiences and problems that have to be addressed.

Question 17

Rhetorical Situation: timing

Answer 17

• Situation is like fruit: too early or late address is bad
• Maturity
• Decay
• Expiration

Question 18

Rhetorical Situation: ‘fitting response’

Answer 18

• It appropriately mediates for that audience
• Addresses all necessary audiences
• Attends to all necessary restraints
• Addresses right exigence
• Performed in the right moment

Question 19

Vatz Critique of Rhetorical of “Rhetorical Situation”

Answer 19

1) Meaning is not discovered in the situation but is rather created by the rhetor
2) Rhetors choose and interpret ‘facts’ that they communicate to the audience
3) No situation is independent of the way we choose to interpret and characterize it.
- The way we talk about the situation defines what it means to society.
- The rhetoric creates the situation and then people act.