Rhetoric A–Z / The situation / The three rhetorical genres

The Three Rhetorical Genres

Aristotle divided speeches into three genres according to the task of the audience: the deliberative (political) speech advises for or against something in the future, the forensic (judicial) speech accuses or defends something that has happened, and the epideictic speech praises or blames something in the present.

The audience decides

The division starts not from the speaker but from the audience. Either the audience is to make a decision, or it is to pass a judgement. If it decides about the future, the speech is deliberative; if about the past, it is forensic. If it is only to judge the speech and its subject, without anything being decided, the speech is epideictic. Each genre therefore has its own time, its own audience, its own place and its own questions.

The deliberative speech

The deliberative or political speech is directed towards the future. The audience is to decide something, and the speech concerns the advantageous and the harmful, the good and the bad. In Athens such speeches were given before the assembly on the Pnyx hill; today in parliament, at the shareholders’ meeting and in advertising.

Advertising is in fact an excellent example. Every advertisement urges us to buy something. The rhetorical problem lies in the future (more people should buy the product), the audience is to make a decision (which product should I buy?) and the argument concerns the advantageous (this particular product is good).

The forensic speech

The forensic or judicial speech is directed towards the past. The audience is to decide guilt or innocence, and the speech concerns right and wrong, the lawful and the unlawful. In Athens such speeches were given before courts such as the Areopagus; today in the courtroom, but also in inquiries, hearings and election campaigns where someone is to be held to account.

Political campaigns can also be forensic in form. A campaign video claiming that the opponents have ruined the country is about what has happened, and asks voters to pass judgement with their votes.

The epideictic speech

The epideictic speech is directed towards the present. The audience is not to decide anything but to judge, and the speech concerns virtue and vice, the honourable and the shameful. The Greeks gave such speeches in the agora and at funerals; today the wedding toast, the eulogy, the award ceremony and the anniversary belong here.

Epideictic rhetoric is easy to underestimate, since nothing is decided. But it is here that a community affirms its values. Even a debate about cow’s milk can be epideictic, like the one between the companies Oatly and Arla: “only cow’s milk tastes as it should” and “cow’s milk is for calves” are both about what is good and right, rather than about a decision.

Genres today

Most speeches mix the genres. A eulogy can call for action, and a budget speech can praise the government that delivers it. Modern rhetoric has therefore often understood genre in other ways. In 1984 the rhetorician Carolyn Miller proposed that a genre should be defined by the social action it performs, rather than by form or content. A speech and an image can then belong to the same genre, and we can speak of new genres: the crisis message, the public apology, the campaign video or the populist style.

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