catiline exercise four
In preparation of the comparison you will make between the rhetorical styles of Cicero and President Obama, familiarize yourself with "decorum" as defined here and view this explanation of ethos, pathos and logos. Note: for this video, when the narrator is referring to texts, the "text" can actually be a speech.
Now watch the first 15 minutes of President Obama’s 2009 Notre Dame Commencement address. You can view the full text of Obama’s speech written out to answer the questions below.
(For reference here is Cicero’s First Catilinarian Oration.)
Complete: the following questions using the two speeches:
1) What similarities do you notice between Cicero’s speech and Obama’s speech in general? What tactics do they use to convince listeners they are effective leaders?
2) What emotional (pathos) appeals do both Cicero and Obama use? Choose one phrase each uses from their speeches to explain. Highlight specific words that you believe are particularly emotionally-charged.
3) What ethical (ethos) appeals do both Cicero and Obama use? Choose one phrase each uses from their speeches to explain.
4) What logical (logos) appeals do both Cicero and Obama use? Choose one phrase each uses from their speeches to explain.
5) From your analysis of the two speeches, what does Cicero’s use of rhetoric (i.e. the art of persuasion) teach us about using speech to enact leadership (or at least, the impression that one is a leader through his or her speeches)?
6) Take this short quiz below and see how you score as a leader – you’ll notice the questions relate to your ability to be ethical, logical, and empathetic.
7) How do your leadership abilities compare to what you have seen from Cicero?