Open AccessSeeing through Words: Hypotyposis and its Functions
Author(s) -
Alessandro Prato
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of teaching and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2336-2022
DOI - 10.52950/te.2021.9.1.005
Subject(s) - cicero , rhetorical question , character (mathematics) , meaning (existential) , rhetoric , function (biology) , aesthetics , literature , rhetorical device , philosophy , art , linguistics , epistemology , mathematics , geometry , evolutionary biology , biology
This essay aims to analyse the rhetorical device of hypotyposis, which is held in great consideration both by ancient rhetoricians (Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian) and by modern critics (Dumarsais, Barthes and Eco) for its capacity to portray visual experiences through the use of words, so as to make them as perceptible as if they were present before the reader’s eyes. The essay compares hypotyposis with other similar rhetorical strategies, such as description (an important moment in which the narratio is suspended and the author describes a place or character), evidentia, and especially ekphrasis - which comes from ekphràzo, meaning “describe, represent”, it is used with reference to the description of artworks - which all exercise a significant persuasive function, for they make arguments more tangible and convincing.