Pentadic Criticism

According to the text, Pendatic Criticism is concerned with the content of what is being done and what are the motives behind a certain artifact as crafted by a rhetor. This method of criticism is greatly based in Burke's Theory of Dramatism which looks at life as a play where symbols and language are used to formulate thoughts in a neurological need for humans to make sense of the world. The artifact (as a play) is analyzed with special attention to these five aspects:

Agent - Who
Act - What
Scene - When/Where
Purpose - Why
Agency - How

In applying the pentadic method of criticism to the analysis of a university library. In a university library, the Agent would be those who funded the library and the university. The Act would be luring students to come participate in the seeking of knowledge through books, magazines and technologies. The Scene would be where a quiet, plain environment promotes the acquisition of knowledge and the pursuit of higher learning. The Scene is a clear area of tables and chairs, and books on shelves, along with various desks with computers for academic use. The Purpose is to maintain an educational organization focused on higher learning and hold a peaceful environment believed to be best for fueling the eager and curious mind. The Agency would be the individual department in charge of keeping and maintaining the library, most likely the academic department. Also, the Agency could be money itself and/or the actual materials which make up the university library.



The ratios in this artifact of the university library seem to point to the purpose to be the most dominant aspect. In way of applying the dramatist based theory, the purpose seems to take the forefront over all other aspects. Each of the other aspects supports the Purpose of a university library.

Feminism and Swiffer - A Brief Ideological Analysis

The company Swiffer uses a specific approach to marketing their product which speaks to certain ideas about feminism. The commercial featured in this analysis attempts to spin the product so that we as consumers may feel positively about its capabilities and will take the plunge into a new, easier love affair with Swiffer . Yet in taking an ideological approach to analyzing this video with an eye towards feminism, the audience may come away from the commercial feeling much different about Swiffer. This product is designed to make cleaning easier and the viewer is intended to draw this conclusion from the short video advertisement. The commercial consists of a Caucasian woman shopping in what is assumed to be a super market when she stumbles upon the Swiffer product. The display in the store attracted her attention, peaking her interest and causing her to pick up the packaged product. A conveniently placed sales clerk who is also a Caucasian woman, perhaps a bit younger, turns in way of promotion to speak positively about the product. The worker exclaims that the customer will "never go back to your old mop and broom, again".

Upon this revelation, what is implied to be the customer's old mop suddenly "leans" from around the corner of an aisle. A second later a 1970's love song starts to play, more specifically the chorus from the song "Baby Come Back" by the artist Player. The song describes a heart broken man who yearns for his love to return into his life. The old mop and broom are attempting to serenade the woman in hopes of winning back her loyalty from the Swiffer product, however it is to of no avail. After a few shots depicting the woman cleaning in a home, we see the female in the parking lot of the grocery store loading up her car with her groceries along with her new cleaning apparatus.

When viewed from a feminist ideology, this commercial may be considered inappropriate, one sided, or sexist. The Caucasian woman appears to be of middle class social status in her way of dress and her other material possessions such as her furnished kitchen and the car she is loading her groceries into in the parking lot. It is implied by this ad that middle class Caucasian women, or women in general, are the individuals who clean and tend to the upkeep of the home. While this may be true according to the marketing research performed by the company on who to target in their demographics, this attitude still stands in opposition of the many of the struggles of feminism. Complimenting this sexist tone of the advertisement is the use of a love song to attempt to regain a woman's attention. The song is sung by a man, from a male's perspective. When scrutinized one would come away from the commercial thinking that women have a love affair with cleaning, further cementing gender stereotypes that many have dedicated years of their lives to eradicate.