Response to Chapter Nine/ Exordium and Introduction

Yet again, I decided to dedicate this blog to one major aspect of speech in classical oration. Chapter nine of ARCS begins by examining exordium. Both Quintilian and Aristotle have two different concepts on exordium, which in my opinion are relatively the same. Quintilian urges that, “The sole purpose of the exordium is to prepare our audience in such a way that they will be disposed to lend a ready ear to the rest of our speech” (295).  Aristotle contends that exordium is “to make clear what the end (telos) of the discourse is” (295).   Having a captivating introduction is an essential component in almost everything we do as humans; performing speeches, writing essays, or even greeting others, generally include an introduction of some sort. But before an introduction, “The quality of the rhetors case determines the kind of exordium required: honorable, difficult, mean, ambiguous, and obscure” (Crowley and Hawhee, 296).  Woah, that is a lot to grasp before giving an introduction to a speech.  Of course it is important to recognize the personality of your audience, while examining the situation before orating, or writing an introduction.  For example, if I’m writing a statement of purpose that I will be handing in to the English department, there are some things to consider when developing my introduction. First, I want to thank the department for reviewing my application. Next, I write a very brief description of myself kind of relating it to my major. Third, I want to create a thesis, in essence, of my goals in life, ultimately explaining why the major supports my career goals.  And in many ways, this way of creating an introduction exemplifies Quintilian and Aristotle’s concept on Exordium.  In class, I will ask about introductions, and how important Cicero’s cases are to classical oration, and modern oration.