The Ethos and Pathos of Hillary Clinton

Trying to get your way means you have to appeal to your audience. When trying to convince your parents to help you out with your first car it's important to remind them how special their own first car was to them. Ethos must be established before one begins to get in to the meat of his/her argument, otherwise a speeches pathos is seen as simply "standing on a soap box." With that said, pathos is essential to have in an speech on a topic that strikes passion in the hearts of one's listeners. With out either the persuasive speech fails. So when addressing a group of people who once having heard your speech can make decisions that will change the world, ethos and pathos can make or break your cause. In the case of Hillary Clinton's speech to the United Nations on women's rights, pathos took a front seat. As a woman speaking on women's rights her ethos was already established, as a First Lady speaking on women's rights her ethos was only legitimized. I think the best quote that Senator Clinton uses to play to the pathos of her audience is this:

"Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children and families. Over the past two-and-a-half years, I have had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing women in my own country and around the world. I have met new mothers in Jojakarta, Indonesia, who come together regularly in their village to discuss nutrition, family planning, and baby care. I have met working parents in Denmark who talk about the comfort they feel in knowing that their children can be cared for in creative, safe, and nurturing after-school centers. I have met women in South Africa who helped lead the struggle to end apartheid and are now helping build a new democracy. I have met with the leading women of the Western Hemisphere who are working every day to promote literacy and better health care for the children of their countries. I have met women in India and Bangladesh who are taking out small loans to buy milk cows, rickshaws, thread and other materials to create a livelihood for themselves and their families. I have met doctors and nurses in Belarus and Ukraine who are trying to keep children alive in the aftermath of Chernobyl. The great challenge of this Conference is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences go unnoticed, whose words go unheard."

When Senator Clinton says these words she is playing directly in to the hearts of those she is addressing. Her goal was to touch everyone who has any connection to a woman at the UN. Dr. King uses similar examples in his Letter from a Birmingham jail. In the same way that it is effective for Senator Clinton as a woman to speak on behalf of women's rights; Dr King as a black man is just as effective while speaking on civil rights for all men, especially those of black men.

Senator Clinton's speech can be found at the following link:
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/Hillary-Clinton/index.htm