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More than 23 centuries ago, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) described in his work ‘Rhetoric’ the ingredients that should make up a good speech. For the sage of Stagira, the key to effective oratory was found in the correct use of four elements: 1) Cairo, the sense of opportunity to deliver the speech at the right place and time; 2) the Ethos o moral authority of the speaker before his audience; 3) the Pathosmade up of all the elements that appeal to the emotion and feelings of the audience and 4) the Logosreverse of pathoswhich consists of exposing the arguments based on proven facts and objectivity.
Since then, all the (good) speakers that have been in the world have complied in one way or another with this scheme.
Some will have emphasized their own ethoslike Hitler, others will have exhibited a perfect balance between pathos and logosWhat Jesus of Nazareth on the sermon on the mountand most will have had a greater impact on the pathoswell, a person is convinced by reasoning, but a crowd is convinced by emotion, and that is something that the greatest knew, from Lincoln to Gandhi, and from Pope Urban II calling a crusade to Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela.
freedom against tyranny
The last great orator to appear before us was a complete unknown to most people just a couple of months ago, but his attitude of resistance, and his handling of oratory have made him a new symbol of the fight for freedom from tyranny. I am referring, of course, to the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
To be fair to him, I think the first thing is to avoid the simplistic analysis that has already been heard many times these days. “He is a good speaker because he is an actor.” Fake. Being an actor has undoubtedly provided him with security before the cameras. Zelensky knows how to modulate his voice well, he knows how to be in front of a camera, and even his previous profession has helped him to have a communicative understanding of the conflict, through the use of photography, television and social networks. But there is something else. If we apply the Aristotelian yardstick to Zelensky, the Ukrainian president approves with a very good grade. Let’s see why.
The Cairo, the sense of opportunity, is guaranteed. The interventions that have catapulted him to international fame have taken place in the last month, coinciding with russian invasion of ukraine. It was time to act, and he has done it. But he has also chosen the place well. His refusal to leave kyiv and remain in his capital despite the Russian siege gives a special force to his words. He is not an exile speaking from afar from the battlefield. He stays with his people.
Which brings us to the next point, the ethos, the moral authority of the speaker. For his population, he already had that moral authority, since he was democratically elected president on March 31, 2019 with 71% of the votes in the second round, defeating the previous president Petró Poroshenko. However, his attitude of staying in kyiv and rejecting the offer to leave the country greatly increased his credibility, both with his own citizens and with the international community. He is now a leader, someone who has earned to be heard, because he is putting his life at stake.
Facts, not words
Since the beginning of the Zelensky invasion he has made numerous speeches directed in three different directions. On the one hand, to his own population; on the other, to the population of their Russian “enemy” and, lastly, to parliaments of different countries, including the United States, Germany, Israel or the European Union. All have greeted him with honors, and some, like Germany, have had to swallow some scolding. The case of the speech to the Russian population just before the invasion began should be highlighted. In this case, instead of appearing in the green shirt that has made him famous, he appeared dressed in a suit and tie, and spoke in Russian. Institutional character on the one hand, but proximity on the other.
The use of the logical and linguistic tools that make up the logos has been a constant in Zelensky’s speeches. «The Ukraine that they show you in the news and the reality are different. The biggest difference is that ours is real », he told the Russians. “Show that you will not leave us aside,” he asked before the European Parliament. “We warned them that the Nord Stream 2 was a weapon, and the answer was economy, economy, economy,” he reproached the Bundestag. Offer and demand objective facts, not words.
But the cornerstone of a good speech is the emotional part, the pathos, and this is where Zelensky has shown himself to be a true master. Before each audience, he has used a different argument to achieve their empathy, which is his ultimate goal, because only through empathy will he be able to extract help from Western countries that perhaps they would not offer if they thought only in practical terms. When addressing the United States CongressZelensky recalled that the struggle threatened his “dreams of happiness,” a subtle but effective allusion to the United States Declaration of Independence. On his side, in his speech before the British parliament, he used the phrase “we will not surrender”, this time a clearer allusion to Churchill’s famous speeches in 1940 in the face of the threat of Nazi Germany. Quoting an authority is a way of appropriating it, so the emotional message that is suggested is that, in 2002, Zelensky represents the values of the founding fathers of the American nation or those of Winston Churchill.
These are just a few notes on Zelensky’s oratorical skill. It is not about judging here whether or not he is right in his political positions and in his strategy to face the war. History will judge those questions. We’ll see if, over time, this man who now stands tall in all the chancelleries of the Western world ends up being what we think we see in him or something very different. What is clear is that if he dies in the next few weeks, he will have become a myth.
* Javier Alonso López is a philologist and author of the book ‘Historical Discourses’ (Arzalia Ediciones).
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