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Definition of Pathos
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Volume 2
Explanation and Analysis—Weeping for Mary:
In Volume 2, Yorick is riding through the countryside when he finds the young "madwoman" Maria weeping under a tree. He leaps out of his carriage to console her, only to find himself overcome with emotion as well. Sterne takes this opportunity to share Yorick's emotional state through both hyperbole and pathos:
I sat down close by her; and Maria let me wipe them away as they fell with my handkerchief.—I then steep’d it in my own—and then in hers—and then in mine—and then I wip’d hers again—and as I did it, I felt such undescribable emotions within me, as I am sure could not be accounted for from any combinations of matter and motion.
The emphasis on the tears and the repetitive motion of wiping them away with the handkerchief—itself a major symbol of Yorick's sentimentality—playfully builds the pathos of the passage, which further descends into emotional hyperbole as Yorick pronounces to himself that no combination "of matter and motion" could possibly explain his depth of feeling.
Such a melodramatic use of pathos rightly feels satirical, and, indeed, the passage is a wonderful example of Yorick's sentimentality running away from him to the extent that he pulls all attention away from the bereaved and genuinely grieving Maria and onto himself. That his handkerchief should appear, which usually happens in A Sentimental Journey when Yorick's emotions get the best of him (to the point of self-indulgence), only confirms as much.
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