Question

In which situation is pathos the best rhetorical tool

Answer 1

Pathos is the rhetorical tool used by a speaker to persuade the audience. The speaker appeals to the audience's emotions, basically.

In these situations, pathos is the best tool:

• In commercials: a) a Charity Organization may resort to showing pictures of starving children in Africa. In this way the audience will feel moved and send money to the organization ; b) A washing machine company may use a conversation bewteen mother and daughter. Through this converstaion, the mother tells the daughter that she has used this washing-machine brand all her life. Consequently, the daughter will continue with her mother's tradition. The audience will get easily convinced.
• Political propaganda. A political candidate will picture himself hugging poor children or pensioners during his campaign. This is to show the audience he has got a warm heart and , therefore, the audience may vote for him.

Answer 2

They are not the facts who change people´s behavior, it is the emotion who has the power to do it, the stories and the irrational impulses who change it.

For example, the smokers do not stop smoke for statistics, they finally do it if a close relative or themselves get sick for that habit.

According to Blaise Pascal "the heart have reasons that the mind does not get it"