The Importance of Delivery

In George A. Kennedy’s essay, “A Hoot in the Dark: The Evolution of General Rhetoric,” Kennedy breaks down different forms of animal communication in order to shed light on some general rules, or theses, of human rhetoric. Kennedy discusses what he calls the “traditional parts of rhetoric”: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. According to Kennedy, “… delivery is prior to the others” (12).

Kennedy defines delivery as physical movements that include “facial expression, gesture, and tonal inflection” (12). All of these movements are ingrained in humans from birth. They are natural and subconscious responses to exigencies that occur throughout our lifetimes and, as such, are a type of rhetoric unto themselves. Kennedy points out that the delivery of these actions isn’t restricted to just humans, “Physical motion in response to some exigence occurs in the earliest and most primitive forms of life, as when an amoeba moves toward a food supply or away from some noxious stimulus” (12).

Since delivery is such an innate trait in humans and animals, a realistic delivery is one of the most important qualities of successful rhetoric. An audience won't trust a rhetor who they believe isn't being truthful, and a false delivery is a clear sign that the rhetor is lying. A delivery that looks too rehearsed or unnatural is a sure way to alienate an audience.

To show the importance of delivery in the performance of rhetoric, I chose a scene from the movie Stage Beauty. In this clip, the two actors rehearse the murder scene from Shakespeare’s Othello. I chose this clip because I thought it accurately illustrates the importance of delivery. Here, the two actors already know their lines; they aren’t concerned with the writing. What they are concerned with is how to deliver the lines in a way that grabs the attention of the audience and shocks them. In order to accomplish this, they must deliver lines quickly and realistically. As Kynaston tells Maria, “Don’t act with what isn’t there.”