Cymbeline: Ethos 1 key example

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Definition of Ethos

Ethos, along with logos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Ethos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Ethos, along with logos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Ethos is... read full definition
Ethos, along with logos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—Think'st Me Devilish:

The Queen requests that Cornelius, a court physician, bring her some powerful drugs and chemicals. When he warns her that the “poisonous compounds” he has brought her are lethal and asks her what she wants them for, she employs ethos in her response, highlighting her own authority as an advanced student of such chemicals, a virtuous woman, and a Queen: 

I wonder, doctor, 
Thou ask’st me such a question. Have I not been 
Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learned me how 
To make perfumes, distil, preserve—yea, so 
That our great king himself doth woo me oft 
For my confections? Having thus far proceeded, 
Unless thou think’st me devilish, is ’t not meet 
That I did amplify my judgment in 
Other conclusions? I will try the forces 
Of these thy compounds on such creatures as 
We count not worth the hanging—but none human—
To try the vigor of them and apply 
Allayments to their act [...]