Rhetorical Strategies in "The Difficulties of Persuasion"

In response to the controversies over the interpretation of Han Feizi’s “The Difficulties of Persuasion”, this study explored the context, audience, and purpose of this essay and analyzed his rhetorical strategies: appeal to desire, profit, and favor and specific methods of persuasion, such as flattery, feigning, and deception. This research found that Han had devoted himself to his political ideology and seeking the benefits of his state and people, that the inconsistency between this essay and Han’s other works was a kind of remedy to the frustration of his ambition rather than a contradiction to his ideology, and that his death was more a sacrifice for his faith than an irony of his expertise of persuasion. These findings provide a new perspective to study Han Feizi, expand the understanding of Chinese rhetoric, and shed a new light on comparative rhetorical studies.

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