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Dramatic Irony
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
Key Examples in The Woman in White
The First Epoch: Part 2, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Credentials of Narrators:
At multiple occasions when a new narrator appears in the novel, especially if it is a more minor character, the given narrator employs logos, ethos, or pathos to convince the reader of their relevance to the story and credibility as a witness.
Related Themes:
The Second Epoch: Part 3, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Credentials of Narrators:
At multiple occasions when a new narrator appears in the novel, especially if it is a more minor character, the given narrator employs logos, ethos, or pathos to convince the reader of their relevance to the story and credibility as a witness.
Related Themes:
The Third Epoch: Part 1, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—A Respectable Woman:
When Walter goes to visit Mrs. Catherick, she believes he has come with the intention of ruining her reputation. Using ethos, Mrs. Catherick scornfully explains that she has come to be seen as a respectable woman in her local community, despite what her neighbors know about her past. Although she arrived as "a wronged woman," she methodically proves to Walter that she stands "high enough in this town to be out of [his] reach."
Related Themes:
The Third Epoch: Part 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fosco's Great Men:
During Count Fosco's narrative, he explains that he is a skilled chemist. In order to convince his reader of his knowledge of chemistry, he combines ethos with allusion. Invoking a series of great historical figures, Count Fosco claims that he could easily have changed the course of cultural, intellectual, or political history by traveling back in time and exercising his chemistry on them.
The first figure that Count Fosco alludes to is William Shakespeare:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Give me—Fosco—chemistry; and when Shakespeare has conceived Hamlet, and sits down to execute the conception— with a few grains of powder dropped into his daily food, I will reduce his mind, by the action of his body, till his pen pours out the most abject drivel that has ever degraded paper.
