High and Low Ethos in Emile Gaboriau’s The Lerouge Case

Abstract

This research paper attempts to scrutinize the high and low ethos of characters inEmile Gaboriau’sThe Lerouge Case. It examines the types of ethos characters have used in the fiction in order to persuade each other through their rhetorics, especially through the ethos. The issue of accountability, persuading each other, moral values, norms and characteristics of different characters is examined in this paper. By taking the theoretical insights on rhetorical issues proposed by theorists like Aristotle, Kenneth Burke, and Gerard A. Hauser, the study reveals the ethos chosen by characters and their ethical background. The novel is a detective fiction where characters like; Tabaret, Valerie, Claire, Albert, Noel, Marie Pierre Lerouge, M. Daburon, Gevrol, and others have used persuasive positions according to their characteristics, background and the need to persuade other. This fiction is filled from of suspense as it is the genre of detective fiction where characters’ ethos is changeable according to the situation they are facing. It has shown the changeable rhetorics of character according to their motif, purpose, and desire which is analyzed in detail in this paper.