Pathos

Pathos is a strong rhetorical device because it appeals to the audience’s feelings and emotions as opposed to their intellect. By using the persuasive appeal of pathos, a writer engages the reader’s “imaginative sympathies”. This is a way to get the audience emotionally involved or to walk in the writer’s shoes by appealing to their senses. It helps the readers to see and feel what the author does. If one uses this emotional appeal technique, it will help win an argument since it intensifies and deepens the response to an issue. It makes the issue come alive. The use of pathos could convincingly persuade the reader to take the writer’s stance if it successfully appeals to the reader’s values and interests. Pathos helps create an emotional impact as the reader realizes the issue has personal meaning and significance. Appealing to someone’s emotions can cause the person to become disregard the truth and facts. They do not use logic or evidence to in formulating their stance. A prime example of this is the piece, “A Case for Torture”. Levin used the technique of pathos to make his case that in some instances it is necessary to use torture. Specifically, by appealing to parents’ emotions he argued that if a terrorist kidnapped their child, then torture was necessary. This shows the power of pathos as a rhetorical device.