Post #10: Arrangement, Madeleine de Scudery, and Erasmus

When it comes to rhetoric, arrangement of one's argument is almost as important as the argument in itself. Arranging one's argument consists of selecting what is to be said, and deciding what order would utilize it's persuasiveness. In modern times, arrangement, such as flow of one's argument is highly important. However, to ancient rhetors, the concern lie in the actual presentation of the argument.

Madeleine de Scudery's firsthand contact with rhetoric, as well as the development of her own style, was born in the "salon". In the salons those of wealthy and bourgeoisie background would gather for written and spoken amusement. When it came to the women of the salon, they would have to be imaginative and witty, but also have a verbal depth. Literary disputes, poetry contests, word games, and current literature were all covered in the salons. And it is from these that de Scudery found the inspiration for her works. The rhetoric of the salon was that of a natural eloquence. Birth and ranking were important, but if one could easily present and persuade others with the utmost of ease, with a natural verbal air about them, they would be set.

Although Erasmus' upbringing was centered on the ideals of the church, he had hoped to escape in order to pursue humanist studies. Erasmus wholeheartedly believed in the value of education. As a follower of Quintilian, he believed that rhetoric was the key to analyzing Greek and Latin texts. Gifted in syntactic structure, he believed in bending of language itself; there are a handful of ways in the English language alone, where one could word things differently but come out with the same result.