The three constituents of Blitzer’s rhetorical situation are exigence, audience and constraints.
Exigence is the imperfection that’s moved by urgency. The exigence is an important and unavoidable situations that are subject to change. Exigence consists of rhetorical and non rhetorical. First, non rhetorical exigences are situations that cannot be changed. They are set in stone like death and the season of winter. The example of rhetorical exigence that Blitzer gives is on the air pollution. This political issue brings discourse or controversy through environmental means. The problem is unavoidable, but the the outcome can be changed. If it can’t, it isn’t rhetorical exigence.
An audience is a mediator of change. They are the ones that we, the orator or writer must adapt to, however, they can still be one. The audience only needs to be affected by the exigence. Bitzer gives the example of a pharmaceutical drug. Even though the audience did not create the drug, they benefit from its creation. Blitzed believes that one must find “common ground” with the the audience in order to be open to change.
The final constituent is constraint. Constraint consists of many things such as the people, places, ideas, politics, etc. However there are two main subtopics, artistic and inartistic proofs. Artistic proofs consist of logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is logic; ethos is character and credibility; logos is logic. Inartistic proofs are outside mind of the author and it must be separated from their ideologies. This consists of facts and data. Shakespeare’s life and death are considered inartistic proofs, while his plays are artistic proofs.
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