The Speakers Credibility

One of the most important rhetorical devices an orator can use to captivate their audience is ethos. Simply put ethos is a means of setting ethical appeal, or developing your character before you begin your speech. Developing your ethos is a time where you convince your audience that you are worth listening to. Elder Holland is one of my favorite speakers to listen to and the reason why is because he develops his credibility with his sincerity and kindness before he begins his message.

In the talk Souls, Symbols, and Sacrament Elder Holland begins his talk by saying “This responsibility to speak to you never gets any easier”. Right off the bat he starts developing ethos by explaining that, not only is it his responsibility to speak to the audience but it is also a very difficult thing. This helps the audience have trust in him because it reminds us that he is in a position of leadership but also because he has experience in talking of matters that are difficult to hear. His comment also helps us feel compassion for him because it is his obligation to speak of difficult things. By setting this stage the audience is captivated and ready to listen.

The next step Elder Holland takes in developing his ethos is by helping the audience feels like they are loved and cared for by him. He says “Your hopes and dreams become ever more important to me the longer I am at BYU. Indeed, your growth and happiness and development in the life you are living…. Are most compelling motivation in my daily professional life”. It is obvious by his rhetoric that he loves his audience and spends much time in thought and prayer over their current circumstance.  The audience knows that it is their growth and happiness that motivate him.

He continues developing his credibility through the rest of his talk by talking of his love for them, and his desire that they follow his counsel in following the law of chastity and remaining sexually pure. I think that this is why Elder Holland is such an amazing speaker, he is a man we can trust, a man that has developed credibility (ethos) by the long hours of praying an thinking about those that he addresses. When he speaks, we listen because through all of his years of being an Apostle we have come to trust in him and leader.