The Power of Rhetoric: The Encomium of Helen

Ancient Greece as a civilization greatly valued sophists: men who practiced the art of argumentation. Odysseus, a great hero of Greek mythology, was renowned for his silver tongue, using his words to twist the mind of his opponents to his aims. Gorgias of Leontini, a great speaker of his own time, proclaims the power of logos, or speech, showing the intense esteem in which it was held. In his work, Encomium of Helen, Gorgias defends commonly-maligned Helen of Troy (of the epic Iliad), claiming that she has no defense against her lover Paris’s power of speech. He claims that speech has such an influence that Helen could not resist Paris. Gorgias makes rhetoric a power to wield, under which its listeners are victims.

"Sacred incantations with words inject pleasure and reject pain, for in associating with the opinion of the mind, the power of an incantation enchants, persuades, and alters it through bewitchment. The twin arts of witchcraft and magic have been discovered, and these are illusions of mind and delusions of judgement." (Gorgias of Leontini 41)

            Initially, Gorgias rightfully argues that speech twists the emotions, altering the listeners’ state of mind. Powerful rhetoric can stir the listeners’ hearts, impassioning them into whatever desires the skilled sophist wishes to incite. Gorgias especially lauds the power of poetry, which of course would have been a dominant art in Greece with the epics by Homer. He calls poetry “speech with meter,” writing that “to its listeners poetry brings a fearful shuddering, a tearful pity, and a grieving desire” (41). An excellent poet could use words to mold the listeners’ feelings. Gorgias even compares the power of logos to witchcraft. Rhetoricians can use speech for good, but also for great evil if they practice it with deception. Logos has an almost otherworldly power to guide the minds of the listeners. He writes, “Sacred incantations with words inject pleasure and reject pain, for in associating with the opinion of the mind, the power of an incantation enchants, persuades, and alters it through bewitchment. The twin arts of witchcraft and magic have been discovered, and these are illusions of mind and delusions of judgement” (41). A sophist spins an argument that drags the listener into his beliefs, putting a spell on him in a way.

"Just as different drugs draw forth different humors from the body…so too with words: some cause pain, others joy, some strike fear, some stir the audience to boldness, some benumb and bewitch the soul with evil persuasion." (Gorgias of Leontini 42)

            Has the listener then no power of his own? At least in the case of Helen, persuaded by Paris’s sweet words, Gorgias argues not. In his mind the listener almost passively succumbs to the rhetoric of the speaker, even if unwillingly. He writes of Helen, “persuasion expelled her thought—persuasion, which has the same power, but not the same form as compulsion” (42). Helen had no defense against Paris’s deceit. The listener, then, when persuaded by the great orator, has no defense against his wiles. He is merely a victim. To Gorgias, speech then persuades not because of its truth, but because of the skill, or technē, of the one who speaks it (42). Anybody could persuade if he has the power of excellent speech, regardless of the truth of his claims. Gorgias warns of this dangerous power that an excellent rhetorician holds—the power of words. He writes, “[j]ust as different drugs draw forth different humors from the body…so too with words: some cause pain, others joy, some strike fear, some stir the audience to boldness, some benumb and bewitch the soul with evil persuasion” (42). The listener can so easily turn to whatever thoughts the speaker wishes to imbue in him that logos is a fearful power to hold indeed.

            And now how to respond to Gorgias? As a Christian writer, as a hopeful wordsmith, what can I take from his wisdom and what can I leave? He is right; words have power, more power than we of the skeptical, post-Enlightenment West would like to admit. People are so often led by their emotions, and words are the keys to open these feelings in the hearts of the listeners or the readers. Therefore, as a Christian writer, as someone who uses words daily, I wield a power that I could easily misuse. We have all seen it. The dictators of the 1930s, turning the minds of Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia with rousing speeches and language that tickles the ears of the proud. The preachers who prey on the young and fearful, twisting their greatest anxieties into a gospel more man-centered than Christ-focused, dallying with deception and changing definitions so that love is weakness and hate is building the kingdom. The educators who chip away at their students’ faith and family with half-truths and generalizations and appeals to their deepest, most vulnerable feelings. No sphere can escape the easy corruption of speech.

            And so, I suppose I will have to treat words with great caution. Persuasion in itself is no sin; deceitful persuasion is. The Apostle Peter writes, “For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (The Bible, English Standard Version, 1 Peter 3:10). I cannot justify evading truth without blatantly ignoring the commands in Scripture. Words have the power to enrage or to be a balm to the reader, and so what words I use must be true, good, and beautiful. James would agree with Gorgias in the danger of persuasion, writing, “[s]o also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:5-6). The tongue, or the pen, can rouse people to hate, to riot, to kill, and turn utterly from the graceful living Christ exemplified for believers.

"[s]o also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell" James 3:5-6

            Gorgias, though a great speaker, recognized the power of words to easily shape a listener’s mind, enabling the speaker to control his thoughts and perhaps even propel his actions. Time and history have proven him true: logos has great strength indeed. But with practice, and the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit, a writer need not lose all hope. After all, it was through the Logos—Christ—that all things were made, and can it not be through His power that our words are redeemed, used for goodness and beauty and the truth that points all to Him? Only through the Spirit of God can we tame the so-easily deceitful speech and create with this force for a wonderful Creator.

Works Cited

Gorgias of Leontini. “From Encomium of Helen.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, W. W. Norton & Company, 2018, pp. 40-42.

The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2011.