A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ellen Degeneres

At one point Ellen DeGeneres got kicked off of a talk show, but it wasn’t for her performance, it was because she came out as lesbian and the talk show did not accept that. But instead of giving up, Ellen decided to take her career in her own hands by doing that she raised to fame years later. But how did she come from being at rock bottom to an inspiration to so many? It was a journey but in order to inspire, Ellen persuaded the audience to stay true to themselves by using pathos and ethos.

In her commencement speech, Ellen DeGeneres uses the technique pathos to get the audience engaged, inspire them, and to give them the ability to relate. For example, at the beginning of her speech she states, “When I was your age, I was dating men.” This

She follows with a challenge that she faced when coming out, sharing how her budding career as a talk show speaker/host was gone after she came out because people were ashamed to be associated with her and nobody wanted to hire her for three years. But, during this time of despair for Ellen, she received letters from kids who had almost committed suicide but did not because they didn’t feel as alone knowing

Ellen, a big celebrity, came out. Ellen then goes on telling the audience

“Really when I look back on it, I wouldn’t change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important thing is, is to be true to yourself. Ultimately, that’s what has gotten me to this place.” This quote from Ellen’s’ speech not only allows the audience to relate to Ellen, but also inspires them to stay true to themselves through sharing a story about a very personal and challenging time in her life. These quotes from Ellen’s’ commencement speech show the use of pathos in different ways, making the audience laugh and feel emotional, she was able to gain trust from the audience and also inspire them.

What made her speech so successful was by her using pathos.

The three words I chose as examples all instill different emotions, creepy instills feeling scared, killed instills feeling sad or feel lost, and gone instills feeling empty. Those three words, show how Ellen brings the people she speaks to on an emotional rollercoaster in a short period of time, and the way she does this is using words that correlate to emotions, otherwise known as pathos.

In her speech addressing the 2009 graduating “Katrina Class” at

Tulane University, Ellen uses ethos to make the audience feel hopeful and inspired. What makes ethos so prevalent in Ellen’s’ speech is that she is now a well-known talk show host and has inspired many in the journey of her challenging yet rewarding life in which she shares.

Ellen tells stories and jokes to get the audience to trust her and feel as though they are friends with her. One of the stories that stands out and builds the trust wall with her audience is when Ellen shares her story about her coming out experience, which I partially mentioned earlier. This story also relates to ethos because it shows that even though she is a big celebrity, she is still human and has had rough moments too. But, in order