Tags: rhetoric, storytelling, narrative, political scandal, Aristotle
Author: S. Webber
Date: May 11th, 2015
CBS’s primetime show The Good Wife follows fictional character Alicia Florrick as she moves through personal, political, and legal challenges as a successful lawyer at a top law firm and as the wife of a politically scandalized politician, who now sits as Governor of Chicago. This episode directly addresses the use of political and private rhetoric just as Alicia has been elected State’s Attorney and struggles to appease powerful forces around her, and to withstand an oncoming scandal. In addition to referring to the general language and manner demanded of politics, the discussion presented here highlights the extensive importance of rhetoric at all junctions. Eli, Alicia’s political manager with whom she engages in this clip, represents Aristotle’s general perspective regarding rhetoric- that which purely exists to trick or unduly persuade the listener. However, Eli provides much needed insight, drawing directly from Herrick’s discussion of rhetoric by telling Alicia that the language that she uses, defined by its delivery (and therein timing), works to create the framework used to organize individuals’ thoughts- making them either her enemy or ally. Furthermore, the interruption of this discussion by personal quarries in the background provides extra emphasis upon the high human value held by language and it’s application. Similarly, the program often presents this value in a professional context by showing court scenes and planning sessions, in which the lawyers seek to portray a select narrative in order to persuade the jury or judge through convincing storytelling, just as Del Gandio outlines in his text Rhetoric For Radicals. Ultimately, The Good Wife serves as an excellent example of the power of rhetoric, and in this particular episode it is deeply accentuated by the drama unfolding throughout the different scenes that define Alicia’s life.
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