Dramatism
Theory that compares life to a play, requiring an act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. The theory allows a rhetorical critic to analyze a speaker's motives by applying these terms. Further, Burke explains that guilt is the ultimate motivation for speak
Kenneth Burke
Major researcher who developed Dramatism to conceptualize life as a drama, identifying key concepts of a rhetoric in terms of a play, the pentad. Self-taught in multi-disciplinary fields of communication, sociology, philosophy, economics, and more, he foc
Assumptions
1. Humans are animals who use symbols.
2. Language and symbols form a critically important system for humans.
3. Humans are choice makers.
Substance
The general nature of something.
Identification
When two people have overlap in substances.
Division
When two people fail to have overlap in their substances.
Consubstantiation
When appeals are made to increase overlap between people.
Guilt
Tension, embarrassment, shame, disgust, or other unpleasant feeling.
Order of Hierarchy
A ranking that exists in society primarily because of our ability to use language.
The Negative
Rejecting one's place in the social order; exhibiting resistance.
Victimage
The way we attempt to purge guilt we feel as part of being human.
Mortification
One method of purging guilt by blaming ourselves.
Scapegoating
One method of purging guilt by blaming others.
Redemption
A rejection of the unclean and a return to new order after guilt has been temporarily purged.
Pentad
Burke's method for applying Dramatism.
Act
One prong of the pentad; that which is done by a person.
Agent
One prong of the pentad; the person performing the act.
Scene
One prong of the pentad; the context surrounding the act.
Agency
One prong of the pentad; the means used to perform the act.
Purpose
One prong of the pentad; the goal the agent had for the act.
Attitude
A later addition to the pentad; the manner in which the agent positions himself or herself relative to others.
Dramatic Ratios
The proportions of one element of the pentad relative to another.