A Lover's Spat: Utilizing Richard Weaver's Topics to Analyze the Debate in Book IX of Paradise Lost

Presenter Information

Nicole Goebel, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 255

Start Date

22-4-2008 10:30 AM

End Date

22-4-2008 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Communication Studies

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

James Dimock

Mentor's Department

Communication Studies

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

The separation scene between Adam and Eve in Book IX of Paradise Lost has been studied extensively to determine the cause of their parting and the resulting fall. However, no one has specifically examined Adam and Eve's morning conversation from a rhetorical standpoint. Richard M. Weaver's Topics, a series of guidelines that establish a value to types of arguments, is used to evaluate the efficacy of the arguments made by the couple. Adam and Eve's arguments are counted and summarized. Then they are categorized and given a score based on the type of argument that is used. The score is divided by the number of arguments to give one the best use of reasoning. The paper concludes that although Eve makes fewer arguments, but they are of higher value.