Classical Rhetoric at Salem: Daniel Webster and the Murder of Captain White

• James M. Farrell ^[1]
  1. [1] University of New Hampshire

     University of New Hampshire

     Town of Durham, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: International journal of the classical tradition, ISSN 1073-0508, Vol. 25, Nº 1, 2018, págs. 36-56
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Daniel Webster’s famous prosecution speech in the Salem Murder Trial (1830) has been both praised and condemned. Celebrated as a masterpiece of forensic eloquence it is also criticized as contributing to a miscarriage of justice. This essay examines that address to the Salem jury in the context of Webster’s own classical training in rhetoric. Specifically, the paper discusses the elements and details of Webster’s persuasive strategy as they are drawn from his Ciceronian rhetorical sensibility. Ethical condemnations of Webster’s address cannot be sustained when that trial speech is reviewed from the vantage of classical forensic rhetoric. In fact, Webster’s performance may be one of the last great expressions of the classical forensic paradigm in American courtroom oratory.