Blog Post 2: Ethos, Logos, Pathos

First of all, I think I'm one of the very few girls who has never liked Pride and Prejudice...  So please excuse any bias or negative vibes I have while analyzing Mr. Collins' proposal.

Ethos:

1. "clergyman"- he's a religious man and therefore should theoretically know a lot about marriage.  It also implies that he is a good, upstanding member of society.
2. "my noble patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh"- he brings in the advice he received from another person of high standing in society to strengthen the credibility of his own opinion.  He is also establishing his connection with this person to make himself seem more important.
3. "I am, to inherit all this estate after the death of your father"- he attempts to forge a connection with Elizabeth by mentioning her father.  To her immediate family, he is a good choice of husband because of his inheritance and because he is their cousin.  He is trying to connect on a logical, familial, financial level, and prove that he is doing this out of the goodness of his heart.

Logos:

1. "inherit all this estate"- once again, it is logical for Elizabeth to marry Mr. Collins because he is inheriting her father's estate.  In fact, he even says that he has to marry one of her father's daughters, and he has chosen her.  Financially, it makes sense.  She would be well cared for as his wife, and she could remain in her home.
2. "consider that it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may be made to you"- this may be her only chance to get married, and in a society that places marriage at the top of a woman's priority list it is logical to take that chance.
3. "let her be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up too high"- Elizabeth is the type of girl Mr. Collins set out to find, and he cares for her.  It makes sense to marry someone who loves you for who you are.  (In truth I find this entire speech horribly unpersuasive but mostly because I don't like Mr. Collins and I really disregard most of the logical parts of marriage at this point in my life)

Pathos:

1. "the violence of my affections"- Mr. Collins claims that he loves Elizabeth and makes an emotional plea for her affections.  Unfortunately, that emotional plea is riddled with too much logic and possibly unintentional rudeness to have much of an effect.
2. "it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may be made to you"- This may have been meant as logic, but it comes off as rude and an attempt to frighten Elizabeth into thinking that Mr. Collins is her only possible future.  The emotion of fear is brought in here, as well as a hint of desperation on his part and, he hopes, hers.
3. "it will add very greatly to my happiness"- Here he tries to convince her that it will make him happy, and I'm assuming he's implying that this should also make her happy.  In both a logical and emotional sense, happiness is desirable.

As for my paper, I'm altering the topic to be more about procrastinating.  I haven't quite figured it out but it may involve situation theory, napping, and candy.  Probably not the candy.

Ethos:

1. I will admit that I procrastinate frequently, and therefore have experience with the matter.  This will also show that I'm not judging those who procrastinate, since I do it too.  It's a connection with the audience and a quick check to stop myself from creating false credibility.
2. I am a college student (admit to being a freshman), and have been a high school student for four years, so I know the effects of procrastinating, particularly with school work.
3. I will cite research from psychologists about situation theory and mind over matter to supplement my own knowledge.

Logos:

1. Procrastinating is fun.  Everyone does it.  And yet everyone knows that they'll regret it in the end.  This is clearly illogical, but people aren't always logical beings.  Therefore, logically, the best way to approach this isn't the logical, straightforward way.
2. Mind over matter is how most people approach procrastination; they make goals, they tell themselves they won't do it again, they make resolutions, and it never actually happens.  Since this has been tried and tested over and over again and is still failing, a new approach must be considered.  My suggestion is to put yourself in a situation that discourages procrastination.  I will supplement this with research on the power of the situation over the individual.
3. Of course, even the action of putting yourself in a motivational situation requires some initiative, and therefore a lack of procrastination.  However, this is a much smaller act than stopping procrastinating as a whole, so it logically follows that it should be easier to not procrastinate.  A counterargument here would be that once you get off the couch it's easy to get going, and that the first act of getting off the couch is ten times harder than everything that follows.  I'm not sure how I would argue against that yet.  I might end up agreeing with it.

Pathos:

1. I can paint an image of how people's lives will be better if they stop procrastinating.  I can also use imagery of how much worse their lives will be if they continue procrastinating or let it get out of control.
2. I can subtly insult people by implying that they cannot stop procrastinating even if they really, truly put their minds to it and wanted to.  Actually I might state that outright because of my situation argument.
3. I can point out how much better the world will be if everyone stopped procrastinating.  All the advances, all the problems that would have been worked on.  I need to bring in the emotion of hope.  According to the Hunger Games, hope is the only thing more powerful than fear, and clearly fear hasn't stopped procrastination thus far.