The Audience Is the Key
Using Burke’s Pentad to Better Understand Rhetoric, Politics and Discourse
We can learn a lot about how to create effective and engaging content from rhetoricians. In particular, I argue that the shift from classical to modern rhetoric emphasizes a distinct role of the audience.
According to a modernist perspective, the role of the audience is as important as the rhetor’s intent. The emphasis on the interaction of the viewer/listener with the text is a hallmark of the shift from the classical ideal to the modern rhetorical perspective. This shift can be seen as an emergence of a “dramatic” rhetoric.
Kenneth Burke is a rhetorician who codified the dramatist view of rhetoric. The dramatic viewpoint was present during the classical period, however, it seems two-dimensional compared to Burke’s dramatism. The modernist work of Burke also provides a bridge between the classical and postmodernist work in the field of rhetoric.
The emphasis on audience is similar to the post-modern idea of the spectator, and the modernist way in which Burke structures his approach is similar to the tropes and topoi in the classical approach. I argue Burke’s modern dramatism provides a bridge between classical and post-modern rhetoric.
