Dramatism, a rhetorical theory, was developed by Kenneth Burke as a tool for analyzing human relationships through the use of language. Burke viewed dramatism from the lens of logology, which studies how people's ways of speaking shape their attitudes towards the world. According to this theory, the world is a stage where all the people present are actors and their actions parallel a drama. Burke then correlates dramatism with motivation, saying that people are "motivated" to behave in response to certain situations, similar to how actors in a play are motivated to behave or function. Burke discusses two important ideas – that life is drama, and the ultimate motive of rhetoric is the purging of guilt. Burke recognized guilt as the base of human emotions and motivations for action. As cited in "A Note on Burke on "Motive"", the author recognized the importance of "motive" in Burke's work. In "Kenneth Burke's concept of motives in rhetorical theory", the authors mentioned that Burke believes that guilt, "combined with other constructs, describes the totality of the compelling force within an event which explains why the event took place."
Dramatism consists of three broad concepts —the pentad, identification, and the guilt-purification-redemption cycle. The entry then considers five major areas in which scholars in a variety of fields apply dramatism: the dramaturgical self, motivation and drama, social relationships as dramas, organizational dramas, and political dramas.
To understand people's movement and intentions, the theorist sets up the Dramatistic Pentad strategy for viewing life, not as life itself,Mangham, I. L., & Overington, M. A. (2005). Dramatism and the theatrical metaphor. Life as theater, A dramaturgical sourcebook (2nd ed.), Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, 333-346. by comparing each social unit involved in human activities as five elements of drama – act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose,Griffin, Em. (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory. (7th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. to answer the empirical question of how persons explain their actions, and to find the ultimate motivations of human activities.
"Dramatism is treated as a technique for analyzing language as a mode of action in which specialized nomenclatures are recognized, each with particular ends and insights."
Background and assumptions
Background Kenneth Burke was an established literary critic who has contributed immensely to rhetoric theory. Originally influenced by Shakespeare and Aristotle's rhetoric, he developed his theory of Dramatism, separating himself from the two by adding the importance of motive. Dramatism went on to be immensely important to communication studies and in understanding how language shapes perception. Some argue that he was slightly ahead of his time when it came to his intense interdisciplinary approach to his theory. Using his classical education of literature and rhetoric as a foundation, Dramatism was largely influenced by the philosophies of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. Burke was said to refer to the work of Parsons, as well as of social thinkers such as Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Alfred Schütz and G.H. Mead, all of whom wrote extensively regarding social action. The joining of these ideologies pushed Burke's work from literary to cultural criticism.
Influence of World War II In the years that Burke was working on crafting Dramatism, the second World War waged on, providing great context to his Grammar of Motives by explaining the implications of motive on action and human communication. Burke called this war the "mightiest war the human race will ever experience". This war played a major role in "rhetorizing" Dramatism. He wrote extensively about the war and its social, political and literary aspects which led him to create this theory. Dramatism emerged as the antithesis to war - it encouraged a poetic dialectic and variations in perspectives in order to come to a joint conclusion to appease all. This came as an opposition to how wars functioned, with "monolithic certainty in the rule of the strongman" and with the need for complete obedience.
Drama as a metaphor The use of drama as a metaphor in order to understand human behavior and motivation forms the basis for this theory. According to West, there are three basic reasons that drama is a useful metaphor to the idea of Dramatism.
Drama indicates a wide range of human experience. There are typical genres that drama follows, which are similar to ways of communicating in human lives. Drama is closely related to audiences, which shows the struggles of audiences and also provides suggestions.
It is possible because Burke believes that Drama has recognizable genres. Humans use language as action in patterned discourses, and texts move us with recurring patterns underlying those texts.Brummett, B. (1993). Landmark Essays on Kenneth Burke (Vol. 2). Lawrence Erlbaum. And drama has certain audiences, which means rhetoric plays a crucial role when humans deal with experiences. Language strategies are central to Burke's dramatistic approach.
This does not necessarily imply that Dramatism is also entirely metaphorical. Critics as well as Burke have debated whether this theory is literal or metaphorical.
Assumptions Because of the complexity and extension of Burke's thinking, it is difficult to label the ontology behind his theory.
However, some basic assumptions can still be extracted to support the understanding of dramatism. Some of what we do is motivated by animality and some of it by symbolicity. A human's purpose for drinking water is to satisfy thirst, which is an animal need; while the action of reading papers is influenced by symbols. Burke's position is that both animal nature and symbols motivate us. For him, of all the symbols, language is the most important. Barry Brummett shares a similar idea in his book Landmark Essays on Kenneth Burke, that "teeters between the realizations that some of what we do is motivated by animality and some of it by symbolicity (p. xii)." When we use language, we are used by it as well. Burke held a concept of linguistic relativity similar to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis . Words set our concepts and opinions, which means people cannot see beyond what their words lead them to believe.Burke, K. (1965). Permanence and Change. 1954. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. This assumption suggests that language exerts a determining influence over people,Melia, T. (1989). Scientism and Dramatism: Some Quasi-Mathematical Motifs in the Work of Kenneth Burke. The Legacy of Kenneth Burke, 55-73. which means meanwhile people's propositions are often restricted to be polarized by language, because some language cannot express much nuance of opinion. We humans are choice makers. Agency is another key point of dramatism; "The essence of agency is choice." Social actors have the ability of acting out of choices.
Key concepts 1. Dramatistic Pentad
Pentad The dramatistic pentad is an instrument used as a set of relational or functional principles that could help us understand what he calls the 'cycle cluster of terms' people use to attribute motive.Blakesley, David. The Elements of Dramatism. New York: Longman. 2002. This pentad is a dissolution to drama. It is parallel with Aristotle's four causes and has a similar correlation to journalists' catechism: who, what, when, where, why, and how. This is done through the five key elements of human drama – act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. The Pentad is a simple tool for seeing and understanding the complexity of a situation. It reveals the nuances and complications of language as symbolic action, which in turn, opens up our perspective. These elements can be applied to various disciplines and be converted to their own methodology. Act: "What", what has done. According to Burke, "the act" of the Pentad is which "names what took place, in thought or deed." Scene: "When" and "Where". According to Burke, "the scene" is defined as "the background of an act, the situation in which it occurred." Agent: "by Whom", who did it. Burke defines the "agent" as "what person or kind of person performed the act." Agency: "How", which is associated with methods and technologies. Burke defines the "agency" as "what instrument or instruments he used." Purpose: "Why", why it happened. This is associate with the motive behind the behavior, which is the main focus of the analysis. Attitude: The preparation prior to performing an act
From the pentad to the hexad Over time, Burke realized that his pentad needed a sixth element, thereby turning it into a hexad. In the 1969 edition of Grammar, Burke added a new element, 'Attitude Frame'.Anderson, F. D., & Althouse, M. T. (2010). Five fingers or six? Pentad or hexad. KB Journal, 6(2). Attitude means "the preparation for an act, which would make it a kind of symbolic act, or incipient act."Burke, K., 1897. (1955). A grammar of motives. New York: George Braziller. Burke created this in order to account for the complexity of a responses that may arise within an audience. He includes Attitude as an aspect of his writings about Frame.
It can be used in place of an act or be the precedent to an act. Mead's writings were interpreted by Burke as "delayed action", wherein people can arouse a change in attitude in themselves as well as others through verbal communication. Burke goes on to agree that attitude is impacted by social surroundings as well as verbal actions. Attitudes can influence how a person acts. It is the conscious, calculated step in the pause before an act.
Pentad in action David Ling used the Pentad elements to evaluate Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy's now-infamous speech in 1969 to persuade the audiences to see him as a victim of his family curse instead of the one who should be responsible for an accident which caused death of Mary Jo Kopechne. From Kennedy's statement, Ling recognized several elements from the Pentad:
Kennedy's response to the Chappaquiddick Incident:
Act: The failure to immediately report a fatal accident and its causes Scene: The events surrounding Mary Jo Kopechne and the event's time in history Agent: Senator Ted Kennedy Agency: The method by which Kennedy eventually reported his involvement in the incident Purpose: To fulfill legal and moral responsibilities Attitude: The circumstances were out of Kennedy's control and his family history negatively contributed
Kennedy denied his relationship with the dead woman, described his survival as a fate, and described the difficulty of rescuing the woman at the scene. He pivoted the fact and described it as a circumstance that he couldn't control. Ultimately, Kennedy escaped the incident with very little damage to his social and political capital as demonstrated by the continuation of his 40-year career in the U.S. Senate. These events were eventually adapted into John Curran's film Chappaquiddick in 2018.
Dramatistic ratios Dramatistic ratios are the "proportions of one element relative to another in the Dramatism Pentad", which can be used to find the dominant element in the interaction.