Rhetoric of Rhetorical Questions

Before entering this class and learning the proper way to define “rhetoric,” the word instantly made me think of the phase a “rhetorical question.” In my lifetime, I’ve uttered, “That was a rhetorical question,” when someone answers an obvious question, far too many times. This utterance is commonplace in vocabulary of many people today, but the meaning contrasts the real definition of rhetoric completely. Is it possible to speak rhetorically, but not with rhetoric?

Kind of.

A rhetorical question can be defined as a question that doesn’t need an answer. But how does this relate to rhetoric? I researched a little and I found that there is a relation, which positions rhetorical questions within the ideology of rhetoric itself.

When speeches are made, often questions are posed in order for the audience to answer the question to themselves. Speakers do this to gain appeal and have the audience on their side, as the answer in their mind persuades them subconsciously to agree with the speaker. Thus, the rhetorical question really is meant to be answered - just not aloud. Over time this idea of “answering to oneself” developed into the sarcastic, overstated question that it is today.  But it stems from proper rhetoric…

A rhetorical question really is a form of rhetoric. It is a tool in helping the speaker persuade his/her point. When a person thinks of the answer to a question to himself or herself they become engaged in the speech at hand, whether they are aware of it or no. So, though rhetorical questions have definitions completely contrast to the term rhetoric, the two really do go hand in hand. It is a tool of the trade.

In the commercial below this is demonstrated. Geico states obvious questions, yet in the end it adds to their persuasion, as the viewer attributes the obvious answer to the money-saving qualities of Geico.