Rhetorical Theater

I had the honor of being part of the High School play: Don Juan. Listening from my friends and classmates reactions, I would say it was a success.  It was great working with such funny and different people. One of the most popular scenes from the play, based on my friends and classmates opinions, was the beach setting. I enjoyed acting as the boasting lifeguard, but it seemed it wasn't just all fun and games, it had a hint of rhetoric to it.

What mainly entertained the audience was the pathos and ethos being manipulated upon them. The lifeguard's confession and bragging of his day lures the audience into thinking he is confident enough to stand and lead, even though he's scared of heights. His cry when he finds out Charlotte is breaking up with him gives the audience a sense of pity towards him, or just simply laughter at him. This lets the lifeguard catch their attention and take his side when fighting for his loved one.

Now we mustn't forget about fallacies. There were a few noticeable ones used in this particular scene. The lifeguard is the one bragging, and what better use of rhetoric is there to make those stories a little more convincing. His misinterpretation of the evidence is clear when he shows off that he can "take on" Don Juan. Just being a few inches smaller but saving his life, the lifeguard assumes he is a better fighter than Don Juan. He also implies that as he "saves" people everyday, Pierrot will always save strangers and be good at it, thus the fallacy of antecedent.

Thanks to this years course of English I am now able to understand books, movies and plays in a whole new level not only laughing but also thinking "I see what you did there."