Patton

The subtle pauses between words. The artful emphasis on a single syllable. The raw emotion choked through the throat of the speaker in tears. These are all important components that cannot be written, but can only be seen and heard by a speaker seasoned in the use of rhetoric. George S. Patton’s speech to the Third Army Troops is a work where this statement is validated when compared side by side. When reading the transcript of the speech, the basic elements of rhetoric can easily be spotted. Logos is mentioned when he notes that “only two percent” of the soldiers are going to die, and ethos in the fact that Patton is a General in the United States Army. The finer points of Patton’s rhetoric, however, only became evident to me when viewing the speech delivered in Patton.
The most prominent form of rhetoric I noticed in the scene in Patton was empathy. For Patton to display empathy to these soldiers is a massive accomplishment on his part, since he is the one sending them off to war. Despite this fact, Patton can still effectively empathize with his audience by first addressing their fear of death and encouraging them that “every man is frightened at first in battle”. This empathy is taken a step further in the scene when the director closes in on Patton’s face when he talks about how envious he is of the soldiers about to go into battle. The emotion displayed on Patton’s face during the close-up is one of true sadness and remorse as he mentions how he must stay back and not partake in the glory of the war. Through the medium of film other visual cues are able to be emphasized on Patton’s uniform as well. The shots of Patton’s tightly clenched cane, his numerous medals and ribbons, and giant US flag in the background all create an atmosphere of military pride and patriotism. Visual forms of rhetoric added much more rhetorically to Patton’s speech. Even though the text can be read in various ways, with the use of empathy and effective film techniques, Patton’ meaning really shines through.