Rhetorical Devices In Clengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross exposes the dark underbelly of a presumably uninspired industry-real estate-in a way that is engaging, suspenseful, and dramatic. In a play about who’s on top and who’s on bottom, the tell-all is in the language.
David Mamet's grasp on the power of syntactical variance, meta-discourse, and semantic manipulation is awe-inspiring. The characters' linguistic tendencies reveal a power structure between the men; as a hierarchy develops throughout Act 1, the characters' roles in the robbery become interpretable and the play's resolution is coyly foreshadowed. The way we speak–from word choice to sentence length and repetition–reveals great depths regarding our identities: how we feel about ourselves, our ability to deceive, how

well we stand up for our convictions. Focusing on Levene, Williamson, Moss, and Aaronow, I will highlight their internal states, position in the hierarchy, and foreshadowed role in the climax/resolution.
Levene–the man who has abashedly fallen from a great height–frequently displays linguistics markers of both uncertainty and authority.

Though these qualities may sound inherently antithetical, they work to juxtapose his past notoriety with his current inferiority. As for uncertainty, Levene frequently uses hedges; from statements such as, “All that I’m saying” to rhetorical questions like, “What is that John?” we can see that Levene is withholding full commitment to his propositions. Asking versus telling reveals hesitance instead of pride. Clarifying your convictions (“All that I’m saying”) diminishes your argument and reveals low self-esteem. This is his current inferiority: Levene knows he is not performing up to par yet cannot risk putting his life on the line with smug

phrasing.
As for Levene’s past notoriety, he frequently uses boosters (designed to reinforce or emphasize a statement).

For example, “Bad Luck. That’s all it is.” speaks to Leven’s confidence regarding his past. He used to be “Shelly. The machine. Levene.” Levene is always reaching back to reclaim the status he has lost. If given the opportunity, is it not obvious that he would steal his eminence back? Levene is the perfect culprit: each line reveals his “trapped” (and rather oxymoronic) predicament; he cannot become what he was but wishes to retain the status of his past despite his current failing.
On the other hand, Williamson’s speech when conversing with Levene is very matter-of-fact; he uses telegraphic sentences to make his points strong and concise. Williamson is the boss; he does not require elaborate phrasing; he will come out on top in the end. From “You didn’t close” to “I have. And my job is to marshal those leads” we see that he is confident in his position. Who better to outsmart the culprits at the end, then the man already on top? While Levene and Williamson reveal their true colors through sentence length and phrasal choices, Moss reveals his true deceptive nature through semantic

manipulation.
From the onset, how Aaronow and Moss will handle the investigation post-robbery becomes blatant: the former will become a fearful fool and the latter a crotchety cocksure. When Moss speaks to Aaronow, he tries to convince Aaronow to steal the leads by exploiting person-oriented and society-oriented manipulation. To explain, he places himself and Aaronow with the bottom feeders of society– And so they kill the goose…and a fuckin’ man, worked all his life …” ­–to make Aaronow feel lowly. However, he compares their status with Jerry Graff who’s “doing business for himself” and paints a picture of a singular person to establish a vivid and easily digestible depiction of the life Aaranow could possess. By individualizing the presentation of a positive light (Graff) and grouping them when in the negative, the robbery appears to offer a chance at superiority and a separation from the masses. However, Aaranow is fearful and simply asks one word questions like “who?” throughout the conversation; thus, in the end, he is predictably uninvolved. He’d never actually do it. Aaranow wouldn’t do it himself. Levene…would.