In Act One of The Tempest it can be seen how Prospero uses rhetoric when he tells Miranda about her childhood. Several times he appeals to her emotions to make himself seem just and even victimized. When he describes the neglect of his responsibilities as Duke of Milan he tries to justify why he did it by saying it was for knowledgeable pursuits. He tells Miranda "I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated to closeness and the bettering of my mind..." to convince her he had good intentions. Then, Prospero describes how he trusted his brother, Antonio, to help him take care of the kingdom, but that his trust was taken for granted. "And my trust, like a good parent, did beget of him a falsehood in its contrary as great as my trust was, which had indeed no limit, a confidence sans bound." He claims he trusted Antonio so infinetly and so deeply that his brother used it against him. He tells Miranda that Antonio knew he would trust him no matter what and therefore his brother used that to overthrow him with treacherous deeds of political bribery. This makes him seem like his only mistake was being a trusting brother and that he was severely wronged. Later, Miranda asks if she was a burden on their long trip through the sea to the shore they currently live at and he replies, "Oh, a cherubim thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile infused with a fortitude from heaven, when I have decked the sea with drops full salt, under my burthen groaned; which raised in me an undergoing stomach to bear up against what should ensue." Once again, Prospero is using Miranda's emotion reactions to influence how she sees him through his story; a rhetorical device knows as "ethos." He tells her she was the one thing that got him through his suffering. He claims her smile is what encouraged him to continue onward and that it gave him the strength to get through the temperance. Prospero's use of rhetoric is very apparent in Act One and he uses it to manipulate the other characters.
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