Rhetorical Essay Emma Watson

Gabrielle Genetelli
Emma Watson, Hermione, and Some Other Rhetoric Devices

A social media outbreak occurred the week following September 20th, 2014. This
epidemic was centered around the game-changing speech that Emma Watson delivered at
a HeForShe Campaign held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Widely
known as Hermione from the Harry Potter film series, Watson is ready to take up bigger
and better things. About seven months ago, Watson was selected as UNs Women Global
Good Will Ambassador. She speaks for a campaign called HeForShe. This organization is
the first campaign of its kind to ever be brought to UN. Watson first discusses the real
definition of feminism. Contrary to popular belief of association with anti-men,
feminism is equal rights for both sexes socially, economically and politically. One may be
wondering, but feminism speeches are given all the time, how is this speech any different
from all the others? Or what makes this speech so effective to our nation and around the
world? Watson exemplifies three rhetorical devices: ethos, pathos and logos to appeal to
her audience.
Firstly, Watson demonstrates ethos simply by reputation. Watson is UNs Global
Good Will Ambassador. She was chosen for this position because she is highly qualified.
Due to her authority, the audience can respect that she is a dignified candidate to deliver
this speech on behalf of the HeForShe campaign. Additionally, Watson is a celebrity
figure in our nation and around the world for being the lead female role as Hermione in
the Harry Potter series. This highly grossing series has been screened in 59 countries.
Regarding this, there is a substantial amount of people to identify with Watson. It is likely
that anyone familiar with Harry Potter will know who Emma Watson is, even if they can
only identify her as Hermione. She is a global figure simply from being an actress in a
internationally successful series. The Harry Potter series make Hermione a character that
fans can adore. Hermione is Harry Potters right hand woman with fast wit and vast
intelligence. Simply from this fictional girl created by an author, we apply these traits to
her because to Harry Potter fans, she will always be known as Hermione. Watson even
refers to herself, Who am I Harry Potter girl, because she knows that is what most
people affiliate her with. By saying this, she grabs the audience with humor. In the video,
you can hear the audience chuckle as Watson admitted,
You might be thinking, Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she
doing speaking at the UN? And, its a really good question. Ive been
asking myself the same thing.
With humor, the audience gains further approval of her. Watson openly addresses
her credibility by implying she did not know if she was qualified or able to do the speech.
She plays a stereotypical young girl; she show that she may be naive, but she knows that
this is something she cares deeply for, so we respect her for that. Considering this, the
audiences trusting nature towards her can develop from her fictional character. As much
as we could try to hate her, it is impossible. Aside from her acting, Watson is a scholar.
She graduated from Brown University, an Ivy League university. Not only is she a worldrenowned actress, she has a college degree from a highly accredited university.
Subsequently, Watson incorporates pathos. She delivers her speech in front of UN
members from all over the world. The UN is comprised of 192 countries; that is a
tremendous amount of people that could potentially hear her speech. Of these countries,
many of them are predominantly strict patriarchal societies, so they are familiar with
gender inequality. Watson speaks of daily occurrences within her past that she
acknowledges she was privileged enough to be born into. Although, other women are
born into male dominated cultures, they do not receive the same opportunities. The cause
is meaningful to a spectrum of women that cannot consent for their own bodies or are
unable to stand up for themselves. However, Watson does not only appeal to women
emotionally. Conversely, she refers to modern day expectations of men as well. She
reflects on men being expected to be tough, aggressive or not fit parents. Watson argued,
Ive seen my fathers role as a parent being valued less by society, despite
my need of his presence as a child, as much as my mothers. Ive seen
young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it
would make them less of a man.
After she states this, she adds that these expectations can lead to suicide among
males ages 20 to 49. She embodies the issues across both sexes and how critical the issue
has become by taking ones life as an underlying cause. Not only will women want to
enlist in this campaign, men feel invited and engaged equally. Even more, Watsons
delivery was extremely heartfelt. She models a serious, yet nervous tone, which
exuberates more confidence after each applause that interrupts her speech. Watson holds
strongly for what she believes in and wants to make a difference. As the audience, we can
admire and observe her willingness to fight for women after claiming she is more
privileged than most. She is willing to help men and women confront these lurking
gender inequalities despite her advantages and success.
Lastly, Watson explores logos by implying statistical evidence, comparative facts
and personal anecdotes. The audience will believe she is educated upon this subject for
the research she has performed. The most shocking statistic was delivered in the finale of
her speech and she stated,
Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take seventy-five years,
or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to be paid the same
as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16
years as children. And at current rates, it won't be until 2086 before all
rural African girls can have a secondary education.
These statistics put accountability into perspective of why we have to take action
and it has to be now. The movement is moving at an awfully slow pace. Furthermore,
Watson brings in historical facts of feminist shortcomings, by discussing Hillary
Clintons speech in 1997. She is perturbed by the fact that the problems Clinton tries to
change are still issues today, 17 years later. Also, the audiences in Clintons speech were
less than 30% male. It is hard to fight equality when we only have half the population
pushing for change; Watson proves this by using Clintons speech as an example. She
formally invites males to join the movement. Moreover, she speaks of personal turmoil
with being discriminated against for being a woman. She reflects on being called bossy
at age 8, her body being sexualized by the media, her friends not wanting to play sports in
fear of having too much muscle or noticing boys incapable of expressing their inner
emotions. All of these things make Watson educated upon the subject because she is
living proof of it. She names off these examples because most people do experience these
incidents on a daily basis, but never characterize it as gender inequality. She shows that
we all encounter these issues more than we may realize. By incorporating facts based
upon her research, the audience can assume that she has an expertise upon the material.
All in all, Watson delivers a speech to the world that will be remembered for the
rest of the year and maybe more years to come. People who have seen this speech are
inspired to join HeForShe. The techniques that Watson emulates in her speech make it
more influential than most feminist speeches. She is the perfect candidate to speak to a
strikingly extensive global population due to her reputation. She definitely makes us
think twice before we ever imply a negative connotation associated with the word
feminist. Only time will tell if HeForShe will have a large following or a bright future.
Works Cited
Emma Watson HeForShe Speech at the United Nations | UN Women 2014. Emma
Watson. HeForShe. YouTube, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Q0Dg226G2Z8

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Gabrielle Genetelli

Emma Watson, Hermione, and Some Other Rhetoric Devices

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