The Rhetorical questions Are literary figures, also known as erotemas, that can be used as discursive and argumentative tools.
The rhetorical figure is one that is formulated without waiting for a response, in order to reinforce the point of view or seek the agreement of the respondent.
They do not expect the receiver of the question to seek a response and utter it immediately, but rather try to generate an argument for what is meant. Many times they are used for the listener to reflect or Modify your behavior .
Within the rhetorical question we can distinguish two modalities, depending on the response that can be given, although not required.
The Interrogative Where the answer of the rhetorical question would be equivalent to a yes or no. And the Quaesitum Where the question will require a much more complex response.
If the rhetorical question is formulated correctly, it provides a sense of conclusion. It is a resource very used in politics, since it is an important figure in the Debates .
Examples of rhetorical questions in poetry
1- Why this restless and burning desire? - José de Espronceda
2- You already forgot the song
That said deep penalties?
From a violin the grateful are
It could be heard under the fronds.
Suspended from alar
Lucia kills flowers.
Have you forgotten that singing,
To sing of old loves?
Ismael Enrique Arciniegas
3- Freedom is death
Despite the spring.
Where the green joy
If a bad wind makes it black?
Is death necessary
To implant the spring?
Rafael Alberti (20th century)
4- If I lock myself in, it's because I cry
What I live inside.
Willing is not enough
Before so much torment.
Who can take me out
Of this my cruel moment
I can barely stop
For having the dead body?
Claudia Prado
5- Are there flowered briers
Among the gray rocks,
And white margaritas
Among the thin grass?
Do the rivers already have nightingales?
Antonio Machado
6- How does that rose that you have lit
Next to your heart
Never before have I contemplated on earth
On the volcano the flower.
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
Examples of rhetorical questions in everyday language
Many of the questions set out below must be placed in a context to acquire their rhetorical meaning.
- How many times do I have to tell you to leave?
- When will it have seen an equal thing?
- Do I have monkeys on my face?
- Feet, why do I love you?
- Are you crazy?
- When will I forget you?
- When will this ordeal end?
- Why do all the misfortunes happen to me?
- What happens to me today?
- Why do I make the same mistake again?
- Where has it seen the same thing?
- Who else but he could have done?
- What is life?
- You are already awake?
- Is not the sea, immense in sight?
- Do you want me to think we're fools?
- How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?
- Who but you took care of me from the first days of my life?
Usefulness of rhetorical questions
The greatest utility of the rhetorical question is to emphasize an idea. Not only are they used in debates, they are also a very used resource in everyday conversations, where they try to make up hurtful comments and are used as a form of irony. It is an exercise to avoid saying what you are thinking.
Rhetorical questions are opposed to the Open questions . Open-ended questions are interpellations in order to get a response.
In these questions, the respondent can answer whatever he wants, since there are no options between which to choose the answer. They allow you to obtain much more extensive answers without conditions for which you have asked the question.
The rhetorical questions are a minority in the use of the language as opposed to the open questions, that yes wait answer.
The use of rhetorical questions occurs in communicative circles with the same competencies, in order to reach the idea of the argument.
They have to be used in a way that the respondent understands that a challenge of thought is being made, rather than inviting him to elaborate an answer.
They are also used in situations where there is an authority and a subordinate, such as in situations between a teacher and a student, a mother and a child, etc.
It is noteworthy that it is normal to use even in the first person, posing questions to oneself (what happens to me today?).
Rhetorical questions are also found in literary speech, especially in poetry. The difference in the use of everyday rhetorical questions versus the use of them in poetry is that poetry may contain several ideas interwoven or that raise more questions or even establish a starting point for introspection.
For the reader to understand the rhetorical figure included in poetry, it must have certain characteristics similar to the metaphor To which it refers.
References
- BITZER, Lloyd F. The rhetorical situation. Philosophy & rhetoric , 1992, p. 1-14.
- HERITAGE, John. The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of pragmatics , 2002, vol. 34, no. 10-11, p. 1427-1446.
- EKMAN, Paul. Emotional and conversational nonverbal signals. In Language, knowledge, and representation . Springer Netherlands, 2004. p. 39-50.
- LAKOFF, Robin. Questionable answers and answerable questions . OSCULD, 1971.
- KINTSCH, Walter; YARBROUGH, J. Craig. Role of rhetorical structure in text comprehension. Journal of educational psychology , 1982, vol. 74, no. 6, p. 828.
- KEARSLEY, Greg P. Questions and question asking in verbal discourse: A cross-disciplinary review. Journal of psycholinguistic research , 1976, vol. 5, no. 4, p. 355-375.
- ILIE, Cornelia. What else can I tell you?: A pragmatic study of English rhetorical questions as discursive and argumentative acts . Thesis. Almqvist & Wiksell International.