8 Kenneth Burke and the Rhetorical Situation
Kenneth Burke (1897-1993)
Kenneth Duva Burke was an American literary theorist, as well as poet, essayist, and novelist, who wrote on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary theorist, Burke was best known for his analyses based on the nature of knowledge. Furthermore, he was one of the first individuals to stray away from more traditional rhetoric and view literature as “symbolic action.”
Burke was unorthodox, concerning himself not only with literary texts, but with the elements of the text that interacted with the audience: social, historical, political background, author biography, etc.
Burke developed the art of criticism, teaching at Stanford, Penn State, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara. Hailed by The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism as “one of the most unorthodox, challenging, and theoretically sophisticated American-born literary critics of the twentieth century,” the work of Kenneth Burke continues to fascinate American rhetoricians and philosophers. His prolific body of work, which consists of over 15 books, has influenced notable writers and critics such as Ralph Ellison and Harold Bloom. In 1981, Burke received the National Medal for Literature.
While teaching at Bennington College, Burke began to work on A Grammar of Motives (1945), outlining what he called “Dramatism,” his developing theory of language and literature. Professor William Rueckert of the University of Rochester, as quoted in the New York Times obituary for Kenneth Burke, described “Mr. Burke’s most notable achievement [as] the formulation of the systematic body of thought that he called ‘dramatism.’ The distinguishing characteristics of the dramatistic system are its inclusiveness, its reliance upon language (symbol-using) and its stress upon man’s capacity for moral/ethical action, which, according to Burke, is only made possible by language.”
Essentially, he believed that human actions reveal motives and values. He saw human beings as users of symbols and defined rhetoric as the moving of others through the use of symbols. He combined the theories of Freud and Marx with his own understanding of drama to create a rhetorical theory that would help people find better ways to communicate. Burke’s Identification Theory and his Dramatic Pentad form the basis for our modern understanding of rhetorical analysis.
Burke & Rhetorical Theory:
Burke’s Theory of Identification:
The Pentad
In A Grammar of Motives, Burke presents a model for analyzing written and spoken language called the Pentad. The pentad avoids simple explanations by assuming that people have complex reasons for writing and speaking. Like the journalistic questions (Who? What? Why? When? Where? and How?), the pentad can be presented as a series of questions.
“[A]ny complete statement about motives will offer some kind of answer to these five questions: what was done (act), when or where it was done (scene), who did it (agent), how he did it (agency), and why (purpose).” –Kenneth Burke
Burke believes that asking these five questions can help us to uncover the complexities of communication.
- Act: Act is associated with dramatic action verbs and answers the question “what?” i.e. What happened? What is the action? What is going on? What action; what thoughts? Burke defines the act as that which “names what took place, in thought or deed.” Since an act is likely composed of many separate actions, Burke states that “any verb, no matter how specific or general, that has connotations of consciousness or purpose falls under this category.”
- Scene: Scene is associated with the setting of an act and answers the questions “when?” and “where?” Burke defines the scene as “the background of an act, the situation in which it occurred.”
- Agent: Agent answers the question “by whom?” Burke defines the agent as “what person or kind of person performed the act.”
- Agency: Agency (means) is associated with the person or the organization that committed the deed and answers the question “how?”Burke defines agency as “what instrument or instruments he used.
- Purpose: Purpose is associated with meaning and answers the question “why?” Purpose is linked to the analysis of “motive,” which, derived from the title of A Grammar of Motives, is the main subject of its analysis. Since purpose is both the subject of analysis and an element of the dramatistic pentad, it is not a common element to be included in a ratio.
Relationships Among Terms
While analyzing specific instances of communication with the five questions can obviously lead us to some understanding about what motivated someone to do something, what really makes Burke’s pentad useful is his emphasis on the relationships among the terms. Any two Pentad elements can be analyzed in relation to each other, creating a ratio, which can provide additional insight into the communication:
- Agent to act
- Agent to scene
- Agent to agency
- Agent to purpose
- Act to scene
- Act to agency
- Act to purpose
- Scene to agency
- Scene to purpose
- Agency to purpose
For example, by analyzing the ratio of agent to scene, we can specifically look at how the context of the situation influenced the speaker to respond.
Watch this video for more information on Burke’s Pentad:
The Rhetorical Situation
A key component of rhetorical analysis involves thinking carefully about the “rhetorical situation” of a text. The rhetorical situation is another way to talk about the concepts covered in Burke’s Pentad.
You can think of the rhetorical situation as the context or set of circumstances out of which a text arises. Any time anyone is trying to make an argument, one is doing so out of a particular context, one that influences and shapes the argument that is made. When we do a rhetorical analysis, we look carefully at how the the rhetorical situation (context) shapes the rhetorical act (the text).
We can understand the concept of a rhetorical situation if we examine it piece by piece, by looking carefully at the rhetorical concepts from which it is built. The philosopher Aristotle organized these concepts as speaker, occasion, audience, and purpose. (SOAP). Answering the questions about these rhetorical concepts below will give you a good sense of your text’s rhetorical situation – the starting point for rhetorical analysis.
Speaker
The “author” of a text is the creator – the person who is communicating in order to try to effect a change in his or her audience. An author doesn’t have to be a single person or a person at all – an author could be an organization. To understand the rhetorical situation of a text, one must examine the identity of the author and his or her background.
- What kind of experience or authority does the author have in the subject about which he or she is speaking?
- What values does the author have, either in general or with regard to this particular subject?
- How invested is the author in the topic of the text? In other words, what affects the author’s perspective on the topic?
Occasion/Context
Nothing happens in a vacuum, and that includes the creation of any text. Essays, speeches, photos, political ads – any text – were written in a specific time and/or place, all of which can affect the way the text communicates its message. To understand the rhetorical situation of a text, we can identify the particular occasion or event that prompted the text’s creation at the particular time it was created.
- Was there a debate about the topic that the author of the text addresses? If so, what are (or were) the various perspectives within that debate?
- Did something specific occur that motivated the author to speak out?
Audience
In any text, an author is attempting to engage an audience. Before we can analyze how effectively an author engages an audience, we must spend some time thinking about that audience. An audience is any person or group who is the intended recipient of the text and also the person/people the author is trying to influence. To understand the rhetorical situation of a text, one must examine who the intended audience is by thinking about these things:
- Who is the author addressing?
- Sometimes this is the hardest question of all. We can get this information of “who is the author addressing” by looking at where an article is published. Be sure to pay attention to the newspaper, magazine, website, or journal title where the text is published. Often, you can research that publication to get a good sense of who reads that publication.
- What is the audience’s demographic information (age, gender, etc.)?
- What is/are the background, values, interests of the intended audience?
- How open is this intended audience to the author?
- What assumptions might the audience make about the author?
- In what context is the audience receiving the text?
Purpose
The purpose of a text blends the author with the setting and the audience. Looking at a text’s purpose means looking at the author’s motivations for creating it. The author has decided to start a conversation or join one that is already underway. Why has he or she decided to join in? In any text, the author may be trying to inform, to convince, to define, to announce, or to activate. Can you tell which one of those general purposes your author has?
- What is the author hoping to achieve with this text?
- Why did the author decide to join the “conversation” about the topic?
- What does the author want from their audience? What does the author want the audience to do once the text is communicated?
Worksheet
You may want to bookmark this worksheet on your computer, as it will help you as you write your own rhetorical analyses:
Attributions:
- “The Rhetorical Situation” adapted from “What is the Rhetorical Situation?” by Robin Jeffrey and Emilie Zickel licensed under CC BY.
- “Burke’s Pentad” adapted from “Dramatistic Pentad” licensed CC BY SA.
- “Burke” licensed CC BY.
- “Burke” licensed CC BY SA.
