Captatio benevolentiae. Strategies for Gaining the Audience’s Favour in the Rhetoric of Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Abstract

The article contains a rhetorical analysis of the strategy of gaining the audience’s favour (Latin: captatio benevolentiae) in the speeches of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The research material consists of 29 speeches the President of Ukraine delivered on the international stage during the first hundred days of the full-scale Russian–Ukrainian war. Using the tools of classical rhetoric, four methods of gaining the favour of the audience were identified: 1) referring to the speaker (creating the authority of the leader, praising Ukrainians); 2) referring to the enemy (arousing hostility towards Russians); 3) referring to the audience (complimenting, identifying and building a community) and 4) referring to the subject of the speech (defending universal values). The analysis shows that specific techniques of gaining the audience’s goodwill, originating from ancient rhetorical theory, are still used in political speeches.