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"Bringing-Before-The-Eyes": Visuality and Audience in Greek Rhetoric By

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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository "Bringing-before-the-eyes": Visuality and Audience in Greek Rhetoric by Brent D. Chappelow A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Shirley K Rose, Co-Chair Kathleen S. Lamp, Co-Chair Maureen Daly Goggin ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2016 ABSTRACT "Bringing-before-the-eyes": Visuality and Audience in Greek Rhetoric examines how Greek rhetorical theories are understood through the lens of visuality and the ways in which orators accounted for audience knowledges and expectations in the creation of rhetorical texts and performances. Through a close reading of Greek rhetorical texts from the classical period, I develop three heuristics for analyzing the ways in which rhetoricians invite and encourage visualized images through rhetorical practice. By exploring (1) language cues that orators use to signal visualization, (2) the ways in which shared cultural memories and ideas allow orators to call upon standardized images, and (3) the influence of stylistic choices and audience emotions related to the vividness of rhetorical images, I argue that it is possible to analyze the ways in which classical Greek orators understood and employed visual elements in their rhetorical performances. I then conduct an analysis of the visual aspects of Demosthenes' On the Embassy using these heuristics to demonstrate the ways in which these three aspects of visuality are intertwined and contribute to a greater understanding of the relationship between the verbal and the visual in rhetorical theory. My findings indicate that Greek orators readily identified the influence of visual ways of knowing on rhetorical theory and presented early hypotheses of the ways in which sense perceptions affect social practice. This project complicates the ways in which rhetorical theory is categorized. Rather than considering visual rhetoric as a distinct field from traditional, verbal text-based rhetorical studies, this project explores the ways in which visual and verbal modes of thinking are interconnected in Greek rhetorical theory. By bridging these two areas of rhetorical study and arguing that verbal i rhetoric can instantiate internalized, visual phenomena for audiences, the dichotomy of verbal and visual is problematized. By focusing on the rhetorical theory of classical Greece, this project also invites future research into the ways in which dominant, Western historic and contemporary systems of epistemology are influenced by the co-mingling of verbal and visual in classical Greek philosophy and education. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family, friends, and mentors who have provided endless support and encouragement throughout the writing process. I especially want to thank Joshua, who has been a constant companion and source of love, strength, and encouragement; Liz, who has kept me sane and shared the beauty and kindness of her wonderful children to inspire me; and to my mother, who instilled in me a deep passion for learning and language. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Shirley Rose, Kathleen Lamp, and Maureen Daly Goggin for their support. Their generous guidance has made it possible for me to research and explore this topic, and their encouragement when I announced my desire to change my course of study to visuality and Greek rhetoric instilled in me the confidence to engage with a new body of scholarship. Their patient guidance and dedication to research, teaching, and service are qualities I deeply admire, and they inspire me to be a better scholar. I would like to give special thanks to Kathleen Lamp, who encouraged me to write about visuality for her Ancient Rhetorics course and helped introduce me to the history of rhetoric. I would also like to thank Sarah Bolmarcich in the School of International Letters and Cultures, who taught me to how to read the classical Greek texts in their original language. Her instruction has opened up my ability to conduct research in this field, and allowed me to be a better scholar. Thanks also to Alice Daer, who introduced me to research on mirror neurons as part of a separate project, which helped lay the groundwork for my current research. In addition, I have relied on many colleagues for support and feedback through this writing process. I would like to thank my colleagues who have talked, written, and commiserated with me through this project. To my writing partners who have offered feedback and advice throughout this dissertation process, Emily Cooney, Cindy Tekobbe, Jordan Loveridge, Katherine Daily O’Meara, and Dawn Schultz Opel, I offer you my deepest thanks. Your kindness as colleagues and friends is one of my greatest treasures. iv Many thanks to my fiancé, my best friend, my parents and siblings, and my cats who have been supportive and loving throughout this doctoral program. You have kept me grounded and listened to my ideas even when it was “all Greek to you.” I could not have completed this project without you. Finally, I would like to thank the Department of English and the Graduate College for awarding me the Graduate Education Dissertation Fellowship to allow me the time and funding to complete this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1 VERBAL AND VISUAL IN GREEK RHETORIC .................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Research Questions ................................................................................... 4 Why Study Visuality? ............................................................................... 5 Historiography and Re-Vision of Rhetorical Theory ............................... 8 Primary Text Selection ........................................................................... 12 Method .................................................................................................... 16 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................. 17 2 RHETORICAL EPISTEMOLOGY, LANGUAGE CUES, AND VISUALITY .... 20 Greek Vocabulary of Seeing ................................................................... 20 Epistemology and Vision ........................................................................ 23 Perceiving the Speech ............................................................................. 37 Imagination and Performance ................................................................. 41 Making Concepts Clear .......................................................................... 45 Extending to Shared Ways of Seeing ..................................................... 47 3 RHETORICAL PERFORMANCE, AUDIENCE, AND CULTURAL MEMORY49 Δόξα, Memories, and Cultural Consciousness ....................................... 57 Cultural Considerations Regarding Audience ........................................ 65 Analyzing Genre and Performance Expectations ................................... 68 Historical and Contextual Cues for Performance ................................... 72 vi CHAPTER Page Cultural Ideologies and Memories Connected to Performance ............. 76 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 86 4 AFFECT AND STYLE IN RHETORICAL PERFORMANCES ........................... 88 Audience and Emotion in Rhetorical Theory ......................................... 93 Emotions and Visuality ........................................................................... 96 Style and Rhetorical Performance ........................................................ 101 Analyzing the Vividness of Information .............................................. 106 Low Vividness ...................................................................................... 106 Moderate Vividness .............................................................................. 111 High Vividness ...................................................................................... 114 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 117 5 APPLYING CONCEPTS OF VISUALITY AND STYLE TO ON THE EMBASSY119 Historical Background .......................................................................... 120 Analysis One: Language Cues .............................................................. 121 Analysis Two: Audience Expectations, Memories, and Ideologies .... 132 Analysis Three: Vividly Performing .................................................... 147 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 156 6 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................... 158 Research Questions and Findings ......................................................... 162 Limitations to Project ............................................................................ 166 Recommendations for Future Research ............................................... 167 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 172 vii CHAPTER 1 VERBAL AND VISUAL IN GREEK RHETORIC Because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade each other and to make clear to each other whatever
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