Guide to Understanding the Rhetorical Situation

Bitzer, Vatz, and Consigny present three different conceptions of the rhetorical situation. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these conceptions will help improve you ability to read situations and write effectively to audiences.

A rhetorical situation occurs when an author, audience, medium (such as text or speech) and a context converge to create a rhetorical act, such as an act of writing or speaking.

The rhetorical situation is commonly depicted in the rhetorical triangle.

In the rhetorical situation, all four components converge to create a rhetorical act--of writing or speaking. The medium such as the text or speech mediates the author, audience, and context. In an equilateral triangle such as the one above, the three outside elements exert equal force on the medium, and hence, the rhetorical act.

Sometimes one of the components in the rhetorical triangle is emphasized more or takes a more important role. For example, the following rhetorical triangle is probably more appropriate for advertising:

In this model, the author (advertising agency) is not very important to the message; rather, the message emphasizes much more the audience and the context (such as the product and its uses).

Still in another model, two of the components become secondary to the third component as in the

example above:

Maybe newspaper writing would be a good example of this rhetorical model. The context (what’s happening) is twice as important as the author and audience, but the author’s name is still listed (so it’s not like advertising) and the audience needs to be considered in terms of clarity, word choice, and knowledge.

What kinds of rhetorical triangles could you create for journal writing? for technical specifications of a new technology? for your resume?

What kinds of rhetorical triangles would the three authors—Bitzer, Vatz, and Consigny—depict, based on their rhetorical theories? Which author presents the most balanced view of all the components? Which emphasizes the power of the context, reader, or author?

In your view, which model do you think best represents how you would approach workplace writing?