Hope Speech

The rhetorical appeals are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is an appeal to credibility, pathos is an appeal to emotion, and logos is an appeal to logic. Milk uses all three of the rhetorical appeals in his speech, but most strongly uses ethos and pathos. Ethos can be seen through his repeated references to himself as gay and as directly involved in the issues he discusses. He ends his speech with a call to his personal ethos: “I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light” (5). By using ethos, Milk aims to earn his audience’s trust and belief; if they believe he is trustworthy, they are more likely to listen to his ideas for how to change the future.

Pathos is used throughout the speech as well, from the jokes at the beginning to the poignant description of the grieving gay community on Page 4. Milk’s ability to switch between the emotional and the personal is key to the speech’s success. His ability to recognize the ways in which ethos and pathos work together form the basis for his connection with his