Rhetorical Appeals

After reviewing this week’s episodes of serial, and given our topic, I found that the Rhetorical Appeals are directly linked to the court cases. These Rhetorical Appeals (Ethos, Pathos, and Logos), are used throughout both cases. From Jay’s case, it’s clear that Pathos and Ethos are two main elements supporting his defense. However in Adnan’s case, Logos was the prevalent appeal when defending his innocence.

When you think Ethos, you think Ethics. This can appeal to trustworthiness, intelligence, authority, expertise. With Jay, first impressions may seem very shady. Afterall, he was doing petty crimes as well, and even admits to assisting Adnan in the murder of Hae. But yet, Jay ended up scott free, and didn’t spend one full second behind

This was something that honestly suited Adnan’s defense more than Jay’s. Remember when I said “He didn’t seem like some sort of assasinator?” Well, he really wasn’t. Why would he kill Hae anyway? Hae and Adnan had dated for about two years, but during the end, it’s like most high school relationships. Someone in the group, or both members, eventually lost interest and break up, which in this case, Hae was the one who broke up. She fell in love with another person, named Don. When they had a break up, Adnan was emotional, and upset. Now, that would make sense, but that was two months before Hae’s death. Why would Adnan kill Hae 2 months after they broke up? I mean, he was described as a player, and sometimes he’d cheat on her. Even after they broke up, many friends his said Adnan eventually got over it.

In these cases, and many real life cases as well, were able to appeal to Rhetorical Appeals. It is incredible how Ethos, Pathos, and Lobos can be found by looking through the events, but they are what I consider something that is used throughout everyday life. So in reality, while it is a neat find, it’s not like this is surprising. If it wasn’t for these three elements to be used in these cases though, You couldn’t get a fair