A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ellen Degeneres

At one point Ellen DeGeneres got kicked off of a talk show, but it wasn’t for her performance, it was because she came out as lesbian and the talk show did not accept that. But instead of giving up, Ellen decided to take her career in her own hands by doing that she raised to fame years later. But how did she come from being at rock bottom to an inspiration to so many? It was a journey but in order to inspire, Ellen persuaded the audience to stay true to themselves by using pathos and ethos.

In her commencement speech, Ellen DeGeneres uses the technique

pathos to get the audience engaged, inspire them, and to give them the ability

to relate. For example, at the beginning of her speech she states, “When I was

your age, I was dating men.” This

statement made the audience laugh because
Ellen has now come out as lesbian and is very open about it.

She follows with a

challenge that she faced when coming out, sharing how her budding career as a

talk show speaker/host was gone after she came out because people were ashamed

to be associated with her and nobody wanted to hire her for three years. But,

during this time of despair for Ellen, she received letters from kids who had

almost committed suicide but did not because they didn’t feel as alone knowing

Ellen, a big celebrity, came out. Ellen then goes on telling the audience

“Really when I look back on it, I wouldn’t change a thing. I mean, it was so

important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important

thing is, is to be true to yourself. Ultimately, that’s what has gotten me to

this place.” This quote from Ellen’s’ speech not only allows the audience to

relate to Ellen, but also inspires them to stay true to themselves through

sharing a story about a very personal and challenging time in her life. These

quotes from Ellen’s’ commencement speech show the use of pathos in different

ways, making the audience laugh and feel emotional, she was able to gain trust

from the audience and also inspire them.

What made her speech so successful was by her using pathos.

But,
the way she accomplished that was with her word choice. Some of the words Ellen
used were creepy, killed, and gone. These may seem like just some words that
people use all the time, that’s because they are. But in the serious context of
Ellen’s’ speech they instill certain emotions or have a connotation that will
change how certain people will receive the message.

The three words I chose as

examples all instill different emotions, creepy instills feeling scared, killed

instills feeling sad or feel lost, and gone instills feeling empty. Those three

words, show how Ellen brings the people she speaks to on an emotional

rollercoaster in a short period of time, and the way she does this is using

words that correlate to emotions, otherwise known as pathos.

In her speech addressing the 2009 graduating “Katrina Class” at

Tulane University, Ellen uses ethos to make the audience feel hopeful and

inspired. What makes ethos so prevalent in Ellen’s’ speech is that she is now a

well-known talk show host and has inspired many in the journey of her

challenging yet rewarding life in which she shares.

Ellen tells stories and jokes to get the audience to trust her and

feel as though they are friends with her. One of the stories that stands out

and builds the trust wall with her audience is when Ellen shares her story

about her coming out experience, which I partially mentioned earlier. This

story also relates to ethos because it shows that even though she is a big

celebrity, she is still human and has had rough moments too. But, in order

for
Ellen to get the audience to listen to her, she has to get their attention, and
the way she does that is unique, but very effective and that is by telling a
joke. She starts off her speech by saying “I realize most of you are hungover
and have splitting headaches and haven’t slept since fat Tuesday, but you can’t
graduate ‘til I finish, so listen up.” This not only grabs the audience’s
attention by saying “I know you are hungover”, which is not something people typically
say to a big group, but it also directly states what the audience has to do.
Ellen DeGeneres went through many high and many lows in her life
but has overcame them, such as getting shunned from all media and job offers
for 3 years because she came out as lesbian publicly. How she regained fame,
got her own talk show, and inspired many people was by using the techniques of
ethos and pathos. Overall, the use of rhetorical techniques is a powerful tool
for influencing others because they impact or play with your emotions by their
connotation and meaning.