Gorgias Rhetoric In The Encomium of Helen

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In the Encomium of Helen, Gorgias attempts to prove Helen’s innocence since she is blamed to be the cause of the Trojan War. Gorgias uses rhetoric to persuade listeners to believe why there are only four reasons to explain why Helen was driven to Troy. All of which he will argue were not her fault. Fate was the first cause, followed by force. Gorgias then seems to focus the most on the power of Logos, or words. Finally he explains how she could have been compelled by love (82B116). I will assume Fate was pretty explanatory when Gorgias wrote the Encomium of Helen since he does not delve deep into his reasons like he later does for Logos. He mentions that a human cannot obstruct the will of God, or Fate, because humans are weak and God is stronger. Helen was a mere human so she could no way stand in the way of Fate. Gorgias concludes that Helen is not to blame in this case (82B116). Force was also not mentioned a great deal by Gorgias. He says that if she was taken by force then it is clearly her abductor’s fault and not hers. Gorgias states that the abductor, or barbarian, that committed this act should receive the blame and punishment. After all, Helen is being robbed of her home and friends, and therefore should be pitied and not blamed (Freeman). The majority of the Encomium of Helen is Gorgias trying to explain that Logos in its many forms could have ca...

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