Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Tiger Woods

1105 Words3 Pages

In December 2009, the world was shocked by Tiger Woods. News was released to the public of a scandal regarding Woods cheating on his wife with numerous women. As a well-known and respectful individual in the golfing world, it was important for him to take responsibility for his actions. More importantly, in order for Woods to keep his sponsors and save his reputation, he needed to apologize to his sponsors and family. His apologetic speech exemplifies his remorseful attitude through diction, or word choice, and the use of ethos, or credibility, and pathos, an emotional appeal, to the audience. Woods uses penitent diction to demonstrate the regret he feels about his irresponsible actions. He uses words such as “irresponsible” and “selfish” …show more content…

He brings in an angry, yet defensive mechanism to persuade the viewer. He says, “However, my behavior doesn't make it right for the media to follow my 2½-year-old daughter to school and report the school's location. They staked out my wife and pursued my mom.” He states this to reinforce how unnecessary it is to stalk his family, especially his immediate family. He mentions how the media watches his wife and mother to display his disgust about the press. He pleads, “please leave my wife and kids alone.” This statement highlights the negative effects of the press on the families of public figures. He is claiming that how he deals with his personal life is something he and his family can decide, not the press. Displaying his anger for the press makes the reader and viewer feel sorry for him and what he had to go through after the affairs with the press. Showing his anger about the actions of the press is another way he tries to persuade the audience watching.
Finally, his sentence structure demonstrates his seriousness. He first says, “I was wrong. I was foolish.” Having these short, choppy sentences in his speech demonstrates the importance on the matter at hand. Then, he states, “I had affairs. I cheated.” Those sentences show how he has taken responsibility for his actions, something not everyone does. Including the short, to the point sentences in his speech makes the reader and audience believe in him more. By him owning up to his faults and realizing he needs to change reassures us as friends, family, sponsors and fans of Tiger Woods to not give up on

Open Document