Definition and Examples of Erotesis in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Erotesis in Rhetoric Definition The figure of speech known as erotesis is a  rhetorical question implying strong affirmation or denial. Also called erotema,  eperotesis and  interrogation. Adjective: erotetic. In addition, as Richard Lanham points out in A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (1991), erotesis may be defined as a rhetorical question which implies an answer but does not give or lead us to expect one, as when Laertes rants about Ophelias madness: Do you see this, O God? (Hamlet, IV, v). See Examples and Observations below. Also see: What Is a Rhetorical Question?EcphonesisEpiplexisHypophoraInterrogative SentencePysmaQueclarativeQuestionYes-No Question EtymologyFrom the Greek, questioning Examples and Observations Was I not born in the realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country? Is not my kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to others harm? What turmoil have I made in this commonwealth that I should be suspected to have no regard to the same?(Queen Elizabeth I, response to a Parliamentary delegation, 1566)Was I an Irishman on that day that I boldly withstood our pride? or on the day that I hung down my head and wept in shame and silence over the humiliation of Great Britain?(Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, Seprember  6, 1780)General, do you really believe that the enemy would attack without provocation, using so many missiles, bombers, and subs that we would have no choice but to totally annihilate them?(John Wood as Stephen Falken in  WarGames, 1983)Another thing that disturbs me about the American church is that you have a white church and a Negro church. How can segregation exist in the true Body of Christ?(Martin Luther King, Jr., Pauls Let ter to American Christians, 1956) Do you then really think that you have committed your follies in order to spare your son them?(Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, 1922) The Effects of Erotesis- Erotesis, or Interrogation, is a figure by which we express the emotion of our mind, and infuse an ardour and energy into our discourse by proposing questions. . . . As these questions have the force of a climax, they ought to be pronounced with increasing force to the end.(John Walker, A Rhetorical Grammar, 1814)- The design of the erotesis or interrogation is to awaken attention to the subject of discourse, and is a mode of address admirably calculated to produce a powerful impression of the truth of a subject, as it challenges the impossibility of contradiction. Thus, How long, Cataline, exclaims Cicero, will you abuse our patience?(David Williams, Composition, Literary and Rhetorical, Simplified, 1850) The Lighter Side of ErotesisYou may think that you are not superstitious. But would you walk under a burning building?(Robert Benc hley, Good Luck, and Try and Get It)D-Day: Wars over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.Bluto: Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!Otter: Germans?Boon: Forget it, hes rolling.(John Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky in Animal House, 1978) Pronunciation: e-ro-TEE-sis