Rhetorical Essay Introduction & First Draft of Speech Outline

Civic Artifact: Karl Marx’s Communist Manifest

Rhetorical Essay Introduction:

To what extent is equality worth fighting for? Socioeconomic inequality has been present throughout human history. With the rise of capitalism growing in the mid-19th century the gap between classes grew, leaving the lower class with poor working conditions, low pay, and little ability to make a change in society. Communism served as the means to eliminate class separation and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto sparked the fire that sent shockwaves of ideas of communism and revolution throughout the lower class of Europe. After being commissioned by the Communist League to write a pamphlet summarizing their beliefs, Marx not only did so brilliantly but also overcome barriers of trust due to being foreign as well as educational barriers by targeting union leaders and by making the language easy for a lower class, uneducated person to understand. By conducting close textual analysis, it is evident that Marx mobilized the Communist Manifesto to impact the way the lower class viewed the structure of society in favor of communism, by emphasizing his and communism’s credibility through ethos, utilizing logos to paint the picture of communism to the commonfolk, and exploited pathos to draw emotion and call for revolution across Europe.

Speech Outline:

Introduction

• Hook – Rhetorical question – Possibly: “To what extent is equality worth fighting for?”
• Rhetorical Context
  • Exigence
    • Rise of capitalism led to widespread inequality in Europe
    • Poor treatment of lower class
    • Civil unrest – communist ideas were spreading
  • Audience
    • Lower class in Western Europe
    • Union leaders
  • Constraints
    • Limited to people who could read
      • Relatively low levels of literacy
    • Marx is foreign
      • Foreigners looked down upon
      • Had to build trust
• Lenses
  • Close textual analysis
    • Break down the text into smaller claims
      • Ways of establishing trust
        • Ethos
        • Logos
        • Pathos
• Thesis
  • By conducting close textual analysis, it is evident that Marx mobilized the Communist Manifesto to impact the way the lower class viewed the structure of society in favor of communism, by emphasizing his and communism’s credibility through ethos, utilizing logos to paint the picture of communism to the commonfolk, and exploited pathos to draw emotion and call for revolution across Europe.

Body of the Speech

• Communism is foreign, but trustworthy and powerful
  • Ethos
    • Builds credibility by describing communism’s strength and support
• Communism embodies a more equal society than capitalism
  •  Logos
    • Paints a picture of communism and how it functions so that it can easily be understood
    • Explains the pitfalls of capitalism
• Capitalism will ultimately fail, and inequality is widespread, so revolution must come immediately
  • Pathos
    • Draws on frustration and anger of the lower class to call for revolution

Conclusion

• Marx utilized ethos, logos, and pathos to influence the way that the lower class viewed the structure of society.
  • He criticizes capitalism while explaining communism, draws on emotion, and calls for revolution across Europe
• Perfectly framed the civic