Ethos, Logos In Speech

The moment most speakers take the stand, we often find ourselves lost in a blur of words, but yet we find ourselves nodding our heads in agreement to what is being said. As rhetoric theory shows, language and the choice of words are the main factors as to why this phenomenon occurs. Different speakers use different types of rhetoric to deliver their message and to convince the audience of their ‘point’ without the audience truly understanding it.

In the theory of rhetoric, logos, ethos and pathos are the three factors that make a speech convincing and ‘successful’. Logos or logic refers to the part in the speech which appeals to the audience as logical. Ethos refers to the authority and the trustworthiness of the speaker. And lastly, pathos refers to the parts of the speech which appeals to the audience’s emotions. Throughout this essay, the application of ethos, logos and pathos will be used to determine the effectiveness of speeches in engaging the audience and conveying the

However in this essay, the use of conceptual metaphors, a literary device, as a rhetorical device will be closely examined. As such, the question to be examined in this essay is: How does Lee Hsien Loong in his annual National Day Rally speeches use conceptual metaphors to effectively engage his audience and convey his message?

This essay will be an enriching contribution to the academic world for the reasons that LHL’s speeches are not as widely analysed as his father, Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister or Singapore’s second Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong. Furthermore, the strong use of metaphors is mainly present in speeches of war or turmoil in the country. It will thus be interesting to see such a use in a peaceful context.

This essay will thus show that Lee Hsien Loong employs a clever array of conceptual metaphors that always manages to convince his audience to share the same vision he has for