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Western Kentucky University

Praise and Blame: The Rhetorical Impact of Nineteenth-Century Conduct Manuals

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The following is an exploration of the use of epideictic rhetoric strategies in nineteenth-century conduct manuals, Sarah Stickney Ellis’s <i>The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits</i>, and Harriet Martineau’s <i>Household Education</i>. In examining the rhetoric of the conduct manuals, this researcher has identified the audience, the rhetorical situation, the exigence of that situation, and the use of <i>phronisis</i>, <i>areti</i>, and <i>euonia</i> by both authors. <br> Because the rhetoric of the conduct manual has not been discussed in current critical perspectives, this research is a starting point for further study. The different types of rhetorical strategies used by each author are the focal points used to uncover how epideictic rhetoric can be understood beyond the restrictions of funeral orations and ceremonial speeches. The primary critical research used in this project has been that focused on epideictic rhetoric and the conduct manuals themselves.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Department of English
Year
2010

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Mattson, Jessica Nicole
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Dr. Jane Fife (Director), Dr. Kelly Reames,Dr. Lloyd Davies

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/204
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1206

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Western Kentucky University
Base URL
digitalcommons.wku.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Mattson, Jessica Nicole. Praise and Blame: The Rhetorical Impact of Nineteenth-Century Conduct Manuals. 2010. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/204