Aristotle's Branches of Public Speaking

Image: Aristotle and Plato

I didn’t know the complexities of rhetoric and the past few months I have learned so much! For this blog I want to focus on the three traditional branches of speeches as stated by Aristotle in his Rhetoric.


Forensic speech is typical of the courtroom and examines past actions.
Deliberative speech is that of governing bodies (political) and considers future actions.
Epideictic speech or ceremonial, attempts to establish the moral qualities of someone or something at present (Bizzell 172). Topoi or topics/places are then dispersed within each branch to create an argument.


We can hear forensic speech in movies or tv shows dealing with the courtroom. An obvious example would be Law & Order. Another example would be the movie,
A Few Good Men, if you haven’t seen it, check it out! There are many famous cases we can read the transcripts of trials, like the trial of Joan of Arc.


Deliberative speech has been used recently. For those of you who watched President Obama’s inauguration address, this is an example of deliberative speech. We heard him pushing us to future actions in regards to our failing economy. Many speeches given by past presidents have been made famous. President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, President Roosevelt’s address after Pearl Harbor, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you…”


Epideictic speech can be either praise or blame. One of the most famous speeches is Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream.” This speech is a great example off strengthening shared belief of equal rights. The strengthening of beliefs is anther characteristic of this type of speech. We hear this one often and we probably didn’t even realize it! A speech at a funeral or wedding is considered epideictic.


These types of public speech are not only for oral speech but also include all types of discourse, form letters to conversation that is persuasive in intent (Bizzell 3).


Next time you hear someone speaking whether it be on TV/movies, in a classroom, or even the Academy Awards (Dustin Black’s acceptance speech), see if you can recognize the branches of speech being used!
*Many of these branches can be seen within each other.

I have included hyperlinks of the speeches mentioned.

Source: Bizzell and Herzberg. "The Rhetorical Tradition." Bedford/St. Martin. Second Edition, 2001.