What is a rhetorical question?

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In these excerpts from E. B White’s Charlotte’s Web , we can see the use of this literary device:

“What is life, anyway? We are born, we live a little and we die .”

“After all, what is a life, anyway we are born, we live a little while, from our death.”

  • Epiplexis : is an interrogative figure of speech and a persuasive tactic in which the speaker uses a series of rhetorical questions to expose flaws in the opponent’s argument. This case does not require answers as it functions more as a mode of argument via interrogation. Epiplexis has a confrontational and reproachful tone.

When, oh Catilina, what does it mean to stop abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours, still taunting us? When is there to be an end to that unbridled audacity of yours, strutting around like you do now?” Marco Tulio Cicero, against Catiline.

  • Erotesis – Also known as erotema, is a rhetorical question in which the answer is clearly obvious, and for which there is a strongly negative or affirmative answer.

“Another thing that bothers me about the American church is that you have a white church and a black church. How can segregation exist in the true body of Christ? Martin Luther King, Jr., “Paul’s Letter to the Christians of America”

References

Dumitrescu, D. (1992). Structure and function of repetitive rhetorical questions. Available at: https://cvc.cervantes.es/literatura/aih/pdf/11/aih_11_1_013.pdf

Isabel Matos (M.A.)
Isabel Matos (M.A.)
(Master en en Inglés como lengua extranjera.) - COLABORADORA. Redactora y divulgadora.

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