The Iliad Rhetorical Analysis

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The Crazy Iliad In life a very good skill to have is to be able to persuade people because it can help out someone in the future of their life situations. This skill is also important when going into war, and persuading people to fight or agree on something someone believes is true. In the Iliad, Homer’s characters’ use persuasion against each other multiple times in the story. The characters in the Iliad mostly use ethos, pathos, and logos when persuading each other to understand what they believe is true. In the first book, Nestor is using ethos in trying to convince Agamemnon and Achilles that they should listen to what he has to say. Nestor tries to argue with them that they should listen to him because they “are both younger than” him …show more content…

Patroclus tries to persuade Achilles by telling him to “at least send him out, let him lead a troop of Myrmidons” so that he can “light the way for their army” (Homer 16.43-44). Patroclus expresses that he loves the Greeks too much to just sit around at the camp. He feels very emotional for his friend, so he wants to take his place and fight this war for him. Patroclus still has a mindset that “If the Trojans think” he is Achilles then “they’ll back off and give the Greeks some breathing space” (Homer 16.44-46). Patroclus believes his cleverness can outdo the Trojans in battle. He thinks his logic should be able to persuade Achilles to let him fight as Achilles in his armor. In Chapter Sixteen, Patroclus uses logos when he is trying to persuade Achilles to let him fight in the war as Achilles. Ethos, pathos, and logos are being used all throughout the Iliad to persuade characters to do certain things in the story. In the Iliad, there are many times where the characters are influencing each other on what each other should do in a conflicted situation. This persuasion technique is starting to become more valuable in the present today. Convincing someone on believing that one persons’ opinion is more correct than someone else’s is a very large aspect of life now. Persuasion can become very useful when deciphering with other people in someone’s everyday

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