Pathos () () is one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric (along with ethos and logos). Pathos appeals to the audience's emotions. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophies in rhetoric. Not to be confused with 'bathos' (?????) which is an attempt to perform in a serious, dramatic fashion that fails and ends up becoming comedy.

Pathetic events in a plot are also not to be confused with tragic events. In a tragedy, the character brings about his or her own demise, whereas those invoking pathos often occur to innocent characters, invoking unmerited grief.

Emotional appeal can be accomplished in a multitude of ways:

• by a metaphor or story telling, common as a hook,
• by a general passion in the delivery and an overall amount of emotional items in the text of the speech, or in writing.

In Jane Austen?s ?Pride and Prejudice,? Mr. Darcy persuades Elizabeth to reconsider her disposition of him through pathos in his letter when he informs her of Mr. Wickham?s offenses.

See also

• Appeal to emotion
• Rhetoric

• Bathos
• Pathetic fallacy

Pathos originated from Aristotle's 'The Art of Rhetoric' in 330 B.C.

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