1.5 Persuasive Writing: Pathos, Logos and Ethos

Pathos, also known as the appeal to emotion, persuades the audience by evoking emotions that the author or creator uses to make the audience feel what they want them to feel. In literature, Pathos is used to set the mood or tone to make the audience feel a certain way towards different characters. Authors are known to use pathos to evoke sympathy from the audience; a common pathos used by creators is to draw pity from the audience. An example of Pathos is "You will never be satisfied in life if you don't seize this opportunity. Do you want to live the rest of your years yearning to know what would have happened if you just jumped when you had the chance?"

Logos, the appeal to logic, persuades the audience with logic, reason, facts, and figures. A creator uses logos by making logical and clear connections between ideas, showing reasonable thinking, and using facts and figures in their work. Logos is rational and logical arguments to show a point of view. Logos is found in literature when characters argue to try to convince one another of their point of view. An example of logos is from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird "It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant."

Ethos,