Joseph Ejercito Estrada Rhetorical Analysis Of The Inaugural Speech

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An Analysis on the Inaugural Speech of Former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada using Burke’s Theory of Dramatism and the Five Canons of Rhetoric in the
Classical Rhetorical Theory
Rhetoric has a significant role in influencing people’s beliefs regarding the state of affairs and their opinions about public policies especially in the field of politics. The study of political discourse becomes a necessity. Gronbeck (1996) supported this as he stated:
Politics understood as a symbolic action demands that we analyze systematically the discourses of political ideology and valuation, of political visions and places citizens occupy in such visions; of the means by which self-interests are converted into public interests—into public policies’ (Gronbeck
Invention refers to the speaker’s use of resources in finding and developing the subject of his rhetoric. It involves the three forms of proof: ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos describes the character of the speaker. In Erap’s speech, he exemplified a tough guy with a soft heart for the poor – an image similar to the characters he portrayed as an actor in films. Aristotle states that three qualities are necessary for the speaker to construct a view of himself as a certain kind of person which are: practical wisdom, virtue and good will. Estrada has shown these characteristics. He was knowledgeable and experienced in politics. He was a respected politician who fought for peace and against crime. He appeared to be enthusiastic and determined to the interest of the audience for his “maka-masa” theme. The second proof is pathos which is the appeal to emotion. Estrada showed that he understands the feeling of the audience who are the Filipino citizens. He knew that most of the Filipino are experiencing poverty and are hoping for prosperity. His presidential campaign was based on a pro-poor agenda with ‘Erap para sa Mahirap’ (Erap for the Poor) as slogan and the theme of his speech is being “maka-masa”. He evokes the feeling of friendliness that he is a friend to all the Filipino. Estrada also evoked the emotion of being angry to corruption and crime as he exclaimed his fight to stop and punish them. Lastly, logos or the rational arguments and evidence that the speaker gives to support his claims was presented in Estrada’s speech by following the induction type which is reasoning from particular cases to a general conclusion. Estrada gave examples of the crimes that causes poverty and he concluded that by fighting it the country and the citizens will

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