'Racine himself was to use, in his tragedies, a suppler form of rhetoric more in tune with the original intentions of the ancients. In so doing he produced a lively and gripping theatre in which speech is action. We are indebted to Hawcroft for this fascinating and original study of the techniques which made this possible.'Times Higher Education Supplement

• Verbal action and rhetorical theory; formal oratory - trials, embassies and councils; informal oratory - the protagonists, the confidants; self-persuasion - monologues; persuasive narrations. Appendix: Scheme of "inventio" and "dispositio".

'Racine himself was to use, in his tragedies, a suppler form of rhetoric more in tune with the original intentions of the ancients. In so doing he produced a lively and gripping theatre in which speech is action. We are indebted to Hawcroft for this fascinating and original study of the techniques which made this possible.'Times Higher Education Supplement

• Verbal action and rhetorical theory; formal oratory - trials, embassies and councils; informal oratory - the protagonists, the confidants; self-persuasion - monologues; persuasive narrations. Appendix: Scheme of "inventio" and "dispositio".

'Racine himself was to use, in his tragedies, a suppler form of rhetoric more in tune with the original intentions of the ancients. In so doing he produced a lively and gripping theatre in which speech is action. We are indebted to Hawcroft for this fascinating and original study of the techniques which made this possible.'Times Higher Education Supplement

• Verbal action and rhetorical theory; formal oratory - trials, embassies and councils; informal oratory - the protagonists, the confidants; self-persuasion - monologues; persuasive narrations. Appendix: Scheme of "inventio" and "dispositio".