The Written Word vs. The Spoken Word

Words on a page are often taken for granted, and rather than being appreciated as an art of the mind, they are easily mistaken for random figures scribbled out in ink. However, the spoken word has a far greater power: it is what was used to declare wars, to spread religions, to win elections, to profess love, to debate, to teach, to communicate despite illiteracy. For example, when sitting in bed reading the Bible, it often comes across as boring and old-fashioned. However, when sitting in church, a preacher can fill those words with passion and actually move his or her audience to cry, to rejoice, to close their eyes and not only hear but actually listen to the word of God. Much in the same way, merely reading the words on the page from General Patton’s speech will have close to no effect on the reader. When read with passion, they might bring out a chuckle or too. When performed, however…when really spoken with a purpose and a target audience and a fiery look in one’s eye, only then will the response succeed in what the speech was written to do.

It’s baffling to consider how many different ways words can be interpreted. When reading Patton’s speech, I was imagining the movie scene vividly in my mind: he would laugh a time or two and really play into the physical role of moving with the words. The young men in the audience would even laugh back a time or two, getting all riled up and hitting each other on the arm every now and then. I had nailed it; this was the way that the speech was supposed to be delivered, I was sure. However, Patton’s director Franklin Schaffner had apparently imagined the speech quite differently than I had; when we finally watched the scene, his version was much more stern, with General Patton speaking almost meanly with no response from the men in the audience. This made me think back to the phrase I purposefully used in the previous sentence: “supposed to.” Is there even such a thing in rhetoric? Obviously, in this case, we could get eyewitnesses who were in the audience of that speech to confirm how Patton had truly delivered it. But, in regards to the speech as a piece of rhetoric, is there really any right way to deliver it? There is a wrong way, which is to read it as if it is just words randomly put together on a page. However, there are multiple right ways, just as my version and Schaffner’s version were both effective. This leads us to the ultimate conclusion in regards to spoken rhetoric: as long as it is spoken with a purpose and a clear goal, every way is the right way. Just like the preacher, you have to find the passion if you expect a reaction from the audience.