Politicians and Rhetoric Also by Jonathan Charteris-Black CORPUS APPROACHES TO CRITICAL METAPHOR ANALYSIS Politicians and Rhetoric The Persuasive Power of Metaphor Jonathan Charteris-Black © Jonathan Charteris-Black 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-4689-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-01981-2 ISBN 978-0-230-50170-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230501706 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Charteris-Black, Jonathan, 1955– Politicians and rhetoric:the persuasive power of metaphor/Jonathan Charteris-Black. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Metaphor. 2. Rhetoric—Political aspects. I. Title. P301.5.M48C486 2005 825′.910915—dc22 2004054793 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 For Pauline Contents Preface xi 1 Persuasion, Legitimacy and Leadership 1 1.1 Language and leadership 1 1.2 The art of speech making 4 1.3 Persuasion and rhetoric 8 1.4 Metaphor 13 1.5 Metaphor in political argumentation 15 1.6 Ideology and myth 21 1.7 Critical Metaphor Analysis and cognitive semantics 26 1.8 Summary 30 2 Churchill: Metaphor and Heroic Myth 32 2.1 Background 32 2.2 The rhetoric of Winston Churchill 34 2.3 Metaphor analysis 38 2.4 Personification 41 2.5 Journey metaphors 45 2.6 Metaphors of light and darkness 50 2.7 Nested metaphors 53 2.8 Summary 56 3 Martin Luther King: Messianic Myth 58 3.1 Background 58 3.2 Messianic myth 60 3.3 The rhetoric of Martin Luther King 62 3.4 Metaphor analysis: source domains 66 3.4.1 Introduction to findings 66 3.4.2 Journey metaphors 67 3.4.3 Landscape metaphors 74 3.5 Metaphor analysis: target domains 77 3.5.1 Segregation metaphors 77 3.5.2 Metaphors for non-violence 81 3.6 Metaphor interaction 82 3.7 Summary 84 vii viii Contents 4 Margaret Thatcher and the Myth of Boedicia 86 4.1 Background: the Iron Lady 86 4.2 The rhetoric of Margaret Thatcher 89 4.2.1 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ARE ENEMIES 91 4.2.2 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IS A BATTLE 92 4.2.3 POLITICAL OPPONENTS ARE ENEMIES 94 4.2.4 Summary of Margaret Thatcher’s rhetoric 97 4.3 Metaphor analysis 98 4.3.1 Journey metaphors 98 4.3.2 Health metaphors 100 4.3.3 Metaphors for religion and morality 102 4.3.4 Metaphors of life and death 107 4.3.5 Animal metaphors 109 4.3.6 Master–servant metaphors 110 4.3.7 Other metaphors 110 4.4 Summary 112 5 Clinton and the Rhetoric of Image Restoration 115 5.1 Background 115 5.2 The rhetoric of Bill Clinton: metaphor and image presentation 115 5.3 Metaphor analysis 120 5.3.1 Creation and construction metaphors 121 5.3.2 Destruction metaphors 125 5.3.3 Metaphors for life, rebirth and death 127 5.3.4 Journey metaphors 130 5.3.5 Religious metaphors 136 5.4 Metaphor diversity and everyday heroes 138 5.5 Summary 140 6 Tony Blair and Conviction Rhetoric 142 6.1 Background 142 6.2 Blair, communication and leadership 143 6.3 Blair and the rhetoric of legitimisation: the epic battle between good and evil 146 6.4 Metaphor analysis 152 6.4.1 Journey metaphors 152 6.4.2 Blair and reification 155 6.4.2.1 Creation, construction and life metaphors 156 6.4.2.2 Metaphors of destruction and death 159 Contents ix 6.4.3 Personification 161 6.4.4 Neutral reification and the use of phraseology 163 6.5 Summary 164 7 George W. Bush and the Rhetoric of Moral Accounting 169 7.1 Introduction 169 7.2 The rhetoric of George W. Bush: the moral accounting metaphor 170 7.3 Metaphor analysis 173 7.3.1 Personifications and story metaphors 174 7.3.2 Depersonifications 181 7.3.3 Finance metaphors 184 7.3.4 Crime and punishment metaphors 188 7.4 Summary 195 8 Myth, Metaphor and Leadership 197 8.1 Politicians and metaphor 197 8.2 Overview of metaphor types in political speeches 198 8.3 Metaphor and political communication 202 8.3.1 Establishing the politician’s ethos 202 8.3.2 Heightening the pathos 203 8.3.3 Communicating and explaining political policies 205 8.3.4 Communication of ideology by creation of political myth 206 8.4 Summary: myth, magic and power 209 Appendix 1 Churchill Corpus 213 Appendix 2 Churchill’s Metaphors Classified by Source Domain 214 Appendix 3 Martin Luther King Corpus 215 Appendix 4 Martin Luther King’s Metaphors Classified by Type/Source Domain 216 Appendix 5 Margaret Thatcher’s Metaphors Classified by Source Domain 218 Appendix 6 Clinton Corpus 219 Appendix 7 Bill Clinton’s Metaphors Classified by Source Domain 220 Appendix 8 Blair Corpus 222