After reading acts 1 and 2 of “The Tempest” I have noticed many uses of rhetoric. In act 1, Shakespeare used alliteration through the phrase “Full fathom five thy father lies” which repeats the letter “F” through line 474. Similes are also used in act two. For instance, in scene 1 it states “He receives comfort like cold porridge” which is comparing comfort and cold porridge which would be considered a”comfort” food. Finally, personification is also used in the tempest. Boatswain stated, “Do you not hear me? You mar our labor. Keep your cabins. You do assist the storm” (1.1 13-14). Through this act of personification, by saying “You do assist the storm” Boatswain is giving the storm human-like attributes because it can “receive” help.

This is a Burger King advertisement that recently released that has plenty of rhetoric. This advertisement is showing a moldy burger along with a statement “The beauty of no artificial preservatives”. This was done to show the audience that Burger King’s burgers have no substances that prevent their food from degrading. This is compared to McDonald’s burgers which have multiple videos of their food not molding over a large period of time. This Burger King advertisement establishes credibility because it allows the audience to trust the food that they are willing to purchase.

This week I noticed rhetoric in my everyday life through the documentary about eight year old Gabriel Fernandez. This documentary uses facts, data, and accounts from credible people to establish ethics. This documentary also uses accounts from family members and people closely related to the case to establish emotion. Without giving spoilers, this documentary has great amounts of rhetoric which shows why this is the #1 documentary in the United States on Netflix.

This week in class we acted out segments from act 1 and 2 of the tempest along with reading the acts in parts. After the readings were done and everyone wrote discussion questions, the class as a whole discussed what we discovered and our thoughts. One example would be discussing the language Shakespeare used and how it is viewed in modern times.