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Irony
Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
The First Epoch: Part 2, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Credentials of Narrators:
At multiple occasions when a new narrator appears in the novel, especially if it is a more minor character, the given narrator employs logos, ethos, or pathos to convince the reader of their relevance to the story and credibility as a witness.
Walter is the novel's main narrator. Nevertheless, he is absent for parts of the First Epoch and for all but the very end of the Second Epoch. During these parts, Marian serves as his right-hand woman and narrates the events he is absent for. There are also key events that Marian is absent for, however. When neither Walter nor Marian is fit to provide details, other characters step in. To present the reader with a continuous narrative, Walter compiles the letters and testimony from a range of characters to tell the story.
Mr. Gilmore, the Fairlie family's lawyer, serves as one of these tertiary narrators. At the start of his narrative in the second part of the First Epoch, he justifies his reason for appearing as a narrator:
The plan [Walter] has adopted for presenting the story to others, in the most truthful and most vivid manner, requires that it should be told, at each successive stage in the march of events, by the persons who were directly concerned in those events at the time of their occurrence. My appearance here, as narrator, is the necessary consequence of this arrangement.
Before taking up the narration, Mr. Gilmore uses ethos by stating exactly which events he was present for. He proceeds to use logos to present his appearance as a "necessary consequence." Another tertiary narrator is Mrs. Michelson, the housekeeper at Blackwater. She takes over the narration when Marian's sickness makes her unable to keep her diary in the third part of the Second Epoch. Mrs. Michelson also begins her narrative with a justification:
The reason given for making this demand on me is, that my testimony is wanted in the interests of truth. As the widow of a clergyman of the Church of England (reduced by misfortune to the necessity of accepting a situation), I have been taught to place the claims of truth above all other considerations.
Pointing to her late husband's work as a clergyman, Mrs. Michelson employs ethos to persuade the reader of her upright and trustworthy character. She also employs pathos by stating that her widowhood forced her to find a way to support herself, suggesting that a woman in her unfortunate circumstances would have no reason to lie.
Hester Pinhorn, Count Fosco's servant, briefly serves as a narrator. Because she can't write, she "humbly [begs] the gentleman who takes this down to put [her] language right as he goes on, and to make allowances for [her] being no scholar." She employs ethos in her affirmation of knowing right from wrong and pathos in assuring the reader that her humble position in life has made her "a hard-working woman" with "a good character." Following his very short narrative, the doctor, Alfred Goodricke, establishes his authority by providing his signature and his credentials as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Related Themes:
The Second Epoch: Part 3, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Credentials of Narrators:
At multiple occasions when a new narrator appears in the novel, especially if it is a more minor character, the given narrator employs logos, ethos, or pathos to convince the reader of their relevance to the story and credibility as a witness.
Walter is the novel's main narrator. Nevertheless, he is absent for parts of the First Epoch and for all but the very end of the Second Epoch. During these parts, Marian serves as his right-hand woman and narrates the events he is absent for. There are also key events that Marian is absent for, however. When neither Walter nor Marian is fit to provide details, other characters step in. To present the reader with a continuous narrative, Walter compiles the letters and testimony from a range of characters to tell the story.
Mr. Gilmore, the Fairlie family's lawyer, serves as one of these tertiary narrators. At the start of his narrative in the second part of the First Epoch, he justifies his reason for appearing as a narrator:
The plan [Walter] has adopted for presenting the story to others, in the most truthful and most vivid manner, requires that it should be told, at each successive stage in the march of events, by the persons who were directly concerned in those events at the time of their occurrence. My appearance here, as narrator, is the necessary consequence of this arrangement.
Before taking up the narration, Mr. Gilmore uses ethos by stating exactly which events he was present for. He proceeds to use logos to present his appearance as a "necessary consequence." Another tertiary narrator is Mrs. Michelson, the housekeeper at Blackwater. She takes over the narration when Marian's sickness makes her unable to keep her diary in the third part of the Second Epoch. Mrs. Michelson also begins her narrative with a justification:
The reason given for making this demand on me is, that my testimony is wanted in the interests of truth. As the widow of a clergyman of the Church of England (reduced by misfortune to the necessity of accepting a situation), I have been taught to place the claims of truth above all other considerations.
Pointing to her late husband's work as a clergyman, Mrs. Michelson employs ethos to persuade the reader of her upright and trustworthy character. She also employs pathos by stating that her widowhood forced her to find a way to support herself, suggesting that a woman in her unfortunate circumstances would have no reason to lie.
Hester Pinhorn, Count Fosco's servant, briefly serves as a narrator. Because she can't write, she "humbly [begs] the gentleman who takes this down to put [her] language right as he goes on, and to make allowances for [her] being no scholar." She employs ethos in her affirmation of knowing right from wrong and pathos in assuring the reader that her humble position in life has made her "a hard-working woman" with "a good character." Following his very short narrative, the doctor, Alfred Goodricke, establishes his authority by providing his signature and his credentials as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Related Themes:
The Third Epoch: Part 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fosco's Righteousness:
At the end of Fosco's narrative and confession, he implores the reader to recognize his integrity. To persuade the reader that he is innocent relative to everything he could have done, he employs logos:
Is my conduct worthy of any serious blame? Most emphatically, No! Have I not carefully avoided exposing myself to the odium of committing unnecessary crime? With my vast resources in chemistry, I might have taken Lady Glyde’s life. At immense personal sacrifice, I followed the dictates of my own ingenuity, my own humanity, my own caution—and took her identity, instead. Judge me by what I might have done. How comparatively innocent! how indirectly virtuous I appear, in what I really did!
Count Fosco explains that, in his pursuit of her money, he could have used his skill at chemistry to simply kill Laura. Instead of taking her life, he only took her identity. In this way, Count Fosco presents the facts of the situation as evidence of his innocence and virtue.
The passage appears in the next-to-last paragraph of Count Fosco's narrative. He strategically places this rationale of his actions at the very end of his drawn-out confession to his plots and crimes in order to eclipse his immorality with his claimed morality. Instead of leaving the reader overwhelmed by his vices, Count Fosco leaves the reader with an explanation of his self-restraint and virtue.
However, after his lengthy insistence on his expertise as a chemist, this line of reasoning does not entirely hold water. Count Fosco admits, in his narrative, to having drugged Laura's maid, Fanny, and Laura herself. He also admits that if Anne Catherick had not conveniently died when she did, he would have "assisted worn-out Nature in finding permanent repose" and "extended to the captive (incurably afflicted in mind and body both) a happy release." The contradiction between Count Fosco's careful employment of logos to emphasize his own virtue and frank acknowledgment of his criminal mind underlines his paradoxical motives and desires. He wants to win the reader's approval and pardon, but not more than he wants to shock the reader with his villainous flair.
Related Themes:
