ABSTRACT
Appeals to superiors, inferiors, and equals, the rhetoric of hierarchy, are forms of address. And since all forms of address involve an audience, the relationship between speaker and audience has much to do with success or failure in such address. Burke describes the nature of rhetoric as addressed to audiences of the first, second, or third person. The actor who lets his response to the general audience pass into dialogue steps out of character, while the audience that permits a member to continue in dialogue usurps the role of the players. Political rallies, sporting events, all civic spectacles are a presentation to general publics—a presentation of the community to itself. Each speaker addresses a jury who are appealed to as responsible citizens; lawyers argue with each other before a judge who personifies the transcendent principle of justice, and finally, each lawyer weighs his case before the community guardians, in his summation.
