Rhetoric persuasion in "The immortal", by Machado de Assis

Abstract

This article provides a reading of the short story, "O imortal," by Machado de Assis, based on the rhetorical modes of persuasion studied by Aristotle: ethos, pathos and logos. In the story, the narrator-character, Dr. Leão, a homeopathic doctor, seeks to persuade his listeners, Colonel Bertioga and the notary, Linhares, about the immortality of his father, Rui de Leão, who would have lived for 255 years between 1600 and 1855, thanks to a powerful elixir. Appealing to the image that he makes of himself (ethos), the emotion/passion of the interlocutors (pathos), and his own speech (logos), the stranger will achieve his goal: the propagation of homeopathy.