Rhetorical Devices of Presidential Candidate at 2023 Public Dialogue: Battle of Ideas

Abstract

Rhetoric is a field of science that studies how to speak in a way that has enchanting appeal so that people who listen to it can understand and their feelings are moved. This research tried to analyze rhetoric devices in presidential candidates. This study aimed to describe the types of rhetoric devices and the most dominant types of rhetoric devices from Anies Baswedan, Ganjar Pranowo, and Prabowo Subianto about their ideas. This research used a descriptive qualitative method. So, the researcher used the documentation method to collect the data. The data were found from the presidential candidate's speeches. The researcher used Aristotle’s theory (1954) to classify the use of rhetorical devices based on the types of ethos, pathos, and logos used by presidential candidates in their speeches. From the analysis of the data, the researchers found three types of rhetorical devices based on Aristotle’s theory. There were 300 pieces of data from 3 candidates' speeches about their ideas with the frequencies from Anies Baswedan were: ethos 13%, pathos 26%, logos 61%, and logo was the most dominant rhetorical device occurred. While the frequencies that occurred from Ganjar Pranowo were: ethos 22%, pathos 42%, logos 36%, and the most dominant rhetorical device of was pathos. The frequencies that occurred from Prabowo Subianto’s speech were: ethos 39%, pathos 37%, logos 24%, and the most dominant rhetorical device that occurred in this speech was ethos. The research findings identified three types of rhetorical devices—ethos, pathos, and logos—according to Aristotle's theory, with specific proofs for each type. The most dominant rhetorical devices in the speeches are logos for Anies Baswedan (61%), pathos for Ganjar Pranowo (42%), and ethos for Prabowo Subianto (39%).