The art of speech is the only one that does not require any improvised material for creativity, neither clay, nor stone, nor colors - only the talent for mastering the word. If the human memory held everything forever, even paper would not be required.
But for many, it is easier to build a stone fortress than a single sentence, thought and feeling conveying. To teach this art is called upon the ancient science of rhetoric. She gave the name to a group of stylistic means - rhetorical figures. She explains what the rhetorical question is and other figures, and also teaches them to use them correctly in speech. Before figuring out what a rhetorical question is and what its functions are, let us find out exactly which rhetoric are rhetorical figures.
Speech figures that are built on verbal turns of a conditionally dialogical nature are called rhetorical. Rhetorical figures arise as a result of a violation of the communicative-logical norms of utterance, since the dialogical intonations that they introduce into the speech process are not designed for a real answer or a practical response, as is usual in “live” communication. This lively communication in everyday life is a dialogue that serves primarily the needs of the exchange of information between its participants. It consists of such appeals to the interlocutor, which suggest an answer or prompt him to specific actions. The dialogue of rhetorical rhetoric is quite arbitrary, and their use in a work of art is designed to solve the following problems:
- individualization of speech of characters;
- strengthening the expressiveness and emotional fullness of the speech of the author and heroes;
- focusing on aspects important for the author of the depicted phenomenon.
In some cases, rhetorical figures can also play a compositional role.
Modern literary scholars refer rhetorical figures to conversions, denials, exclamations, and questions. How do they explain what a rhetorical question is, rhetorical appeal, rhetorical exclamation and denial? Consider the appeal. It is rhetorical if it does not aim to establish real contact with the person, subject or phenomenon to which the speech is addressed, but serves only to attract the attention of the reader and express the attitude of the speaker. Such treatment is also called "nominative presentation." Here is an example: “Moscow! How much of this sound … ”Rhetorical treatment is more often used in poetic than in prose texts, where, among other things, it quite often draws up, “ introduces ”the theme of the work. Like here: “Oh joy! There is so much emptiness in my heart that you cannot fail, you cannot …"
The next figure - a rhetorical question - is equally common in prose and poetry. So what is a rhetorical question as a stylistic figure? This is a question that is asked for the purpose of aphoristic generalization and affirmation of a well-known or obvious truth. To get an answer - this is the goal the traditional question sets itself, the rhetorical one does not need an answer, since the answer is contained in it: "Have you overslept again?" Sometimes the role of the rhetorical question is to motivate the further development of artistic exposition, to contribute to a deeper disclosure of important semantic aspects that accompany it: “Is this a dream, and tomorrow everything will be different?” For someone, it will probably be a discovery that there are not only questions, but also rhetorical answers. Rather, denial, in the form of an answer to a possible assumption, assumption or personal opinion of an imaginary interlocutor: “No, my friend, no one is waiting for us there!”
A rhetorical exclamation is a saying that has a special expressiveness and an emphasized emotional character. It is introduced primarily with the aim of drawing attention or increasing emphasis on one or another aspect of the depicted subject: “Oh, the look is insidious and attracting!” All of these figures fulfill their role in the text of the work, but the common thing is that they all make this text expressive and emotional.
