Introduction
This essay is another rhetorical criticism on the 9th Earl Spencer’s “Eulogy for Princess Diana of Wales” on September 6, 1997. In his eulogy, the 9th Earl Spencer is speaking on behalf of the royal family to remember Princess Diana for the woman she was and will continue to be remembered as. Previously, the “Eulogy for Princess Diana of Wales” was approached with the Pentadic Criticism, but this time it will be analyzed by the Neo-Aristotelian Criticism. Before, the “Eulogy for Princess Diana of Wales” was evaluated on how it fit into Kenneth Burke’s Pentadic Criticism, which mainly involved the analysis of the act, agency, scene, and purpose of the rhetorical artifact. During this essay, however, the 9th Earl Spencer’s invention of his eulogy will be analyzed, which will mainly involve the analysis of his use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Artifact Description
Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, is the younger brother of Princess Diana. Spencer is giving the eulogy for his sister at her funeral on September 6, 1997 in Westminster Abbey, London. Thousands of people lined the streets in mourning to watch the funeral procession of Princess Diana, and there were millions watching the funeral on television worldwide. Princess Diana, at the age of 36, passed away in a car accident on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France. Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, were attempting to flee from the paparazzi when the car crashed. Despite the widespread blame placed on the paparazzi for causing the crash, an investigation in 1999 found Diana’s driver to be at fault for the crash.
The driver was found to be the cause of the crash “for driving at a high speed while under the influence of alcohol and antidepressant drugs.” (“Princess Diana Biography”).
Method of Criticism
In the previous criticism, the five elements of Pentadic Criticism were evaluated. The five elements are as follows: act, agent, scene, agency, and purpose. (Foss, 368). “These five terms constitute what Burke calls the pentad, and they are used as principles or a ‘grammar’ for describing any symbolic act fully.” (Foss 368). The act “names what took place,” the scene is “the background of the act,” the agent “indicates what person or kind of person” is performing the act, and the agency is “what means or instrument is used,” (Foss 368). The other approach involves the five canons of the Neo-Aristotelian method of rhetorical criticism, which are invention, organization, style, memory, and delivery. (Foss, 33). In this Neo-Aristotelian criticism of Charles Spencer’s “Eulogy for Princess Diana,” the focus will be on his invention in his eulogy. Invention is “the location and creation of ideas and materials for the speech.” (Foss, 33). Inventions is “based on two major forms of proof. External or inartistic proofs are those the rhetor uses from other sources but does not create. Internal or artistic proofs, those that the rhetor creates, fall into three categories: (1) logos or logical argument; (2) ethos or the appeal of the rhetor’s character; and (3) pathos or emotional appeal.” (Foss, 33).
Findings Charles Spencer begins his speech by saying,
“I stand before you today, the representative of a family in grief, in a country
in mourning, before a world in shock. We are all united not only in our desire to
pay our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so. For such was
her extraordinary appeal that the tens of millions of people taking part in
this service all over the world via television and radio who never actually met
her, feel that they, too, lost someone close to them in the early hours of \
Sunday morning.” (Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
He starts the eulogy on a strong note. He is using both ethos and pathos in this section. He is appealing to the audience’s emotions by pulling their grief, sorrow, and shock forwards. He appeals to the audience’s grief while also building up his credibility as a speaker. Not only is he representing the family, but he is also sympathizing with the audience and their grief. The world was grieving over Princess Diana’s death and Spencer is appealing to that.
Spencer then continues to use pathos appeal to the audience by reminding them that while, yes, this is a sad occasion, it should also be a time to remember Diana for who she was and to be grateful to have had even had her for a short time.
“Today is our chance to say ‘thank you’ for the way you brightened our lives,
even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated, always,
that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful
that you came along at all.” (Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
Spencer is also using pathos to appeal to the audience’s emotions of bitterness and anger. They are bitter and angry that Diana was taken from them so soon when she still had a long life to live with her family.
Spencer then begins to use ethos to continue building his credibility as a speaker by mentioning childhood memories of him and Diana together. He mentions how he and Diana were the two youngest, which meant that they shared a close relationship together throughout their childhood. He even includes memories of her “mothering” him as a baby and fighting with him at school.
“It was as if we had been transported back to our childhood when we spent
such an enormous amount of time together, the two youngest in the
family. Fundamentally she hadn’t changed at all from the big sister who
mothered me as a baby, fought with me at school, and endured those long
train journeys between our parents’ homes with me at weekends.”
(Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
This section of his eulogy also uses pathos, in a way, to appeal to a bittersweet feeling in the audience. It is a sweet memory that, as Spencer says “will be treasured,” but it also evokes a sad feeling that those times are over because Diana is no longer with us. Spencer then enters the part of his speech where he uses pathos to evoke the emotions of anger, sadness, and pity in the audience.
“She talked endlessly of getting away from England, mainly because of
the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. I don't think
she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by
the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to
bring her down ... My own, and only, explanation is that genuine goodness
is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point
to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this:
a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the
most hunted person of the modern age.” (Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
He is evoking the emotions of sadness and pity when he mentions how the newspapers and the media treated Diana horribly. It can also be seen when he mentions that she didn’t understand why her good deeds were “sneered” at. At the same time he is evoking anger with his words due to how horribly Diana was treated. He really drives his point home when he says that Diana was “the most hunted person of the modern age,” and when he says “We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.” (Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
Spencer then strongly ends his speech by thanking God for taking Diana “at her most beautiful and radiant and when she had joy in her private life,” and by giving thanks for the life of his sister: “the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds.” (Eidenmuller, “Eulogy for Princess Diana”).
Conclusion
I believe that in my analysis of Charles Spencer’s “Eulogy for Princess Diana,” the more effective approach was through the use of Neo-Aristotelian Criticism rather than the use of Pentadic Criticism. The eulogy was filled with emotion, which made it a great artifact to use for Neo-Aristotelian criticism which analyzes the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Works Cited
Biography.com Editors. “Princess Diana Biography .” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Aug. 2019, www.biography.com/royalty/princess-diana.
Eidenmuller, Michael E. Online Speech Bank: 9th Earl Spencer - Eulogy for Princess Diana of Wales,
americanrhetoric.com/speeches/9thearlspencerdianaeulogy.htm
Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. Waveland Press, 2018.
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