The Gardener
The film
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. After the events of the first film, Frodo and Sam embark on a journey to Mordor to destroy the ring, accompanied by Smeagul the Gollum as their guide. They encounter many dangers on the way to Mount Doom. Meanwhile Saruman, Sauron's servant prepares for war against the people of middle-earth.
The rhetorical speech takes place in Gondor, the rhetor is Sam. Sam is a hobbit and friend of Frodo; back home he was Frodo’s gardener. Sam has just saved Frodo from the Nazgul and breaks the rings influence on him by reminding him that they are friends. Frodo has lost the will to go on, and complete the mission of destroying the ring. Sam then gives his speech, talking about how they are like the people in the great stories that really mattered. How they are surrounded by darkness and danger, how there is no happy ending. The world has been tainted and corrupt, there could be no going back to a peaceful time, but alas even darkness must pass and a ray of hope will shine brightly. People have to have something to hold on to and believe in…theirs is hope, hope for a better tomorrow. That’s what keeps people fighting no matter how grim the situation is. The purpose of Sam’s speech is to bring Frodo back from despair and strengthen his resolve. The constraint for Sam is the ring’s influence. The longer Frodo has the ring in his possession the more it will try and corrupt him.
His logical structure revolves around hope for a better future, essentially everlasting peace. This concept is the reasons the two are on this journey, to put an end to the darkness. This concept is something that everyone in the whole movie wants, not just Frodo. If an opportunity for peace showed itself there would be no one that wouldn’t jump at the chance to secure it. Peace is something that everyone wants and middle-earth desperately needs. Everyone in the movie has seen their share of bad things and knows that this way of life isn’t right and that people shouldn’t live this way. That’s why the people are fighting Saruman’s army and risking their lives; they like Sam say, have something worth fighting for. During the speech the film cuts to the two battles: the one at Helm’s Deep and Isengard. The characters in these battles are who the speech is about, those fighting for the future. Sam uses this want for peace to appeal to Frodo by telling him that he needs to keep on fighting for the goal of a better future, he knows Frodo has the ability to tip the scales in the right direction.
Sam’s ethos is shown by his history throughout the film. Since departing from Shire with Frodo, Sam has acquired quite a few experiences that verify his credibility. He has encountered The Nazgul, Orcs and has witnessed the supposed death of Gandalf during his fight with Balrog the demon. He has seen the despair and hopelessness in the world. As he continues to venture on with Frodo his credibility continues to increase. Thanks to these experiences no one can say Sam doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or is just sympathetic. That’s why when he does his speech Frodo doesn’t stray from its message he knows Sam has been there the whole time with him, everything he has faced Sam has also. Frodo’s main cause for his despair is thinking he can’t beat the rings influence and complete the task, to him it seems impossible. Sam’s speech targets that, and basically says Frodo can overcome his personal darkness and change the future by having hope and pushing forward. Sam’s credibility on the ring and its nature is second hand, while not physically wearing it or suffering the symptoms, he has been around Frodo and often comments on his health and behavior. At one point during an argument with Frodo he points out that the ring is corrupting him and that he has seen the influence it has on people (this refers not only to Frodo, but also to Boromir and Smeagul). He tells Frodo “Can’t you hear yourself? Don’t you know who you sound like?” implying that Frodo is reminding him of Smeagul.
Sam’s pathos or emotion in the speech is tied to his ethos; with the credibility Sam couldn’t direct his pathos correctly. Because he has the experience, he displays empathy rather than sympathy and uses that to include his emotions in the speech. He uses that to attack Frodo’s fear of failing by saying how like the great stories told, they too our facing dark times. He continues and tells how even darkness must pass and let light shine through, this begins to tug on Frodo’s resolve. When Frodo asks what it is they are holding onto Sam replies the good in the world, implying that the good is worth fighting for, using hope to mend Frodo’s resolve. As he is ending the speech Sam approaches Frodo and helps him stand to his feet, this shows that Sam can physically and non-physically (speech/words) support Frodo on his quest. Later as they continue on, Sam begins telling about how some day a story about Frodo’s quest will soon be told by the future people of middle earth. Basically saying Frodo will succeed and he will help usher in an era of peace, thus tying back into his speech of how great tales showcase people fighting for their hopes and dreams. This gives Frodo even more confidence and he replies by adding Sam into the story as a brave warrior by his side.
Sam’s pathos also reached Faramir a secondary audience of the speech. At first Faramir was eager to deliver the ring to his father and Gondor, but hearing Sam’s speech causes Faramir to change his mind and let the two go and continue their quest. Sam’s earlier comments about Faramir’s brother being corrupted by the ring seem to take effect as he hears the speech. Even when asked by one of his men was he sure about this Faramir says yes, this shows that he has been moved emotionally because Faramirat first would stop at nothing to gain his father’s approval, which is the reason behind him wanting to deliver the ring.
Sam’s approach in the speech was excellent; his rhetoric devices further increased his success rate and overall quality. This allowed for the constraint of the ring’s influence to be negated as Frodo in the end regained his resolve, thus Sam achieved his goal. He was also able to change his secondary audience Faramir with his appeals allowing him and Frodo to continue the quest. His style of using tales often heard as a child that portray hope, was a good way to conform Frodo to the right path, he also later incorporated this by declaring that one day Frodo’s quest will become one of the stories that tell of hope.