In “The Rhetorical Situation”, Bitzer is attempting to draw more attention to the rhetorical situation in a piece of writing. He believes that many people down play rhetorical situation, therefore he goes into great detail to explain how intricate rhetorical situation can be. The situation allows for the rhetorical discourse to exist. Bitzer outlines the three most important parts of rhetorical situation; exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence is the existing problem the piece of writing is addressing. Audience is simply who the piece is directed towards. Constraints are the limits and obstacles that are present between the writer and their goal. Bitzer shows how rhetorical discourse can be used in every day situations rather than just applying this theory to pieces of writing. He compares rhetorical situation to the scientific theory, which includes the understanding of complex and puzzling ideas. By comparing rhetorical discourse to a process we use almost every day, Bitzer makes the article more relatable and easier to understand. One question I have is how can one be sure that they are using the rhetorical situation correctly in analyzing a work of writing?
Emma Watson recently gave a speech at the UN addressing issues of feminism. The exigence in this piece would be the issue of gender equality. Watson explains in her speech what it means to her to be a feminist and attempts to clarify some misconceptions of the word feminist. The audience of Watson’s speech is anyone who was present in the UN that day and any person who is interested in researching feminism. The constraints Emma Watson faces are that she is presenting a speech about promoting gender equality. She must make sure that throughout her speech she does not favor one side over the other, which would defeat the purpose of her entire speech.