1. The Rhetorical Situation

3. The Rhetorical Situation
Lloyd Bitzer (1968)
Elements of the Rhetorical situation
 Exigence
 Audience
 Constraints
 “Fitting Response”

4. The Rhetorical Situation
Elements of the model (Bitzer, Hauser)
“fitting response” (Bush “9/11 statement”)
Audience as “constructed” (Bush “Mourning”)
 Includes traditions, conventions of discourses
Change in one element changes all elements
(RFK)
“fitting” intersects with values, ethics of rhetor
& audience (Love)