Athenian Democracy. Speech On The Stage

From the point of view of performance study, Athenian political oratory can be regarded as a kind of public performance for communication. On this premis, therefore, the author analyzes the rhetorical strategies in the context of particular occasion of speech, in order to investigate how the Athenian politicians' performance of speeches affected the populace's political cognition. This is the very subject of the dissertation. By a thorough analysis of some most typical speeches from Demosthenes, the author chooses four important aspects to expatiate on this subject.In Chapter One, according to some statements about rhetoric by Plato and Aristotle, the author explains the tension between performantive nature and political nature of Athenian political oratory, and then discusses how Demosthenes and his political rival Aeschines practised their performance of speeches in this tension. By analyzing their mutual attacks on each one's ability to deliver speeches, the author investigates how the rhetorical performantive effect and the critical discourse about it influenced the way in which the Athenian populace listened to the politicians' speeches and whereafter developed political cognition.In Chapter Two, the author discusses Demosthenes and Aeschines' mutual slanders on each other's private life. In the author's opinion, these slanders can be regarded as a kind of exposition of politicians' personal lives, which was required in accordance with both rhetorical strategies and Athenian democratic principles. Through the litigations in the people's courts, this exposition was important to Athenian common citizens to know their politicians.In Chapter Three, the author's discussion is focused on Demosthenes' presentation of political affairs. The author analyzes the rhetorical strategies by which Demosthenes demonstrated the political affairs in the litigation with Aeschines and explained his policy against Macedon. The aim of this analysis is to investigate how these rhetorical strategies affected the Athenian populce's knowledge, interpretation and estimation of political affairs.In Chpater Four, the author gives a new survey of Demosthenes' discussions on Athenian democracy, the pattern of political operation, ideology, and the sovereingty of the laws and the populce. In Demosthenes' speeches, these discussions were also used as rhetorical strategies to mold the populace's counsiousness of political role and influence the way in which the populace interpreted the speeches and choosed the politicians' policies.After the investigations of these four aspects, we can see that in Athenian democracy the politicians' performance of speeches had a positive affect on the populace's political cognition. In the conclusion of the dissertation, the author makes further the discussion to argue that with this positive affect the politicians' performance of speeches to some extent could ensure the populace's political participation and maintain the continuity of Athenian democracy.