Pathos - GCSE English Literature Definition

Key Takeaways

• Pathos is an appeal to emotion, used to persuade an audience by evoking feelings such as sympathy, anger, fear or joy

• The term comes from the Greek word pathos, meaning "suffering" or “feeling”

• Aristotle identified pathos as one of three modes of persuasion alongside ethos (credibility) and logos (logic)

• Writers create pathos through emotive language, vivid imagery, and personal anecdotes 

• Pathos appears everywhere, from Shakespeare's tragedies to charity adverts and political speeches

Pathos Meaning and Definition

Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It's one of the oldest persuasive techniques in rhetoric, first described by Aristotle in his work Rhetoric around 350 BCE. The word itself comes from the Greek pathos, meaning "suffering", "misfortune", or "feeling".

In everyday English, "pathos" has a slightly different meaning. You might hear someone say a film "had real pathos", meaning it evoked a deep sense of pity or sadness. But in literary and rhetorical analysis, pathos refers specifically to a deliberate technique: the writer or speaker choosing language and details designed to trigger an emotional response in their audience.

That emotional response doesn't have to be sadness. Pathos can evoke anger, fear, hope, guilt, nostalgia, or joy. What matters is that the audience feels something, and that feeling shapes how they think about the argument or narrative.

Pathos in Literature

Writers use pathos to draw readers into the emotional world of a text. A well-placed detail can make a character's suffering feel real, or it can make an argument impossible to ignore.

Common techniques for creating pathos include:

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the final scene relies on pathos. The audience must watch the agony of each lover taking their own lives so they can be with each other after death. The language of both Romeo and Juliet is intimate, emotive, and full of rich imagery. The scene is intensely romantic yet terribly tragic.

War poetry offers another rich source. Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est uses graphic sensory imagery to create pathos, forcing readers to confront the physical reality of warfare.

To find out more about how Shakespeare creates pathos in his tragedy, you can find a comprehensive, detailed analysis in the Save My Exams teacher-written revision notes on Romeo & Juliet: Character Quotations.

“I remind my students to write more about the ideas raised by techniques like pathos and less about the meaning of them. For example, writing things like ‘pathos is used to evoke sympathy’ is unnecessary, but writing something like ‘pathos is used here to highlight the terrible circumstances of soldiers in World War I’ is what examiners are after.”

Sam Evans, English Tutor

Pathos and Bathos

Bathos is, essentially, the opposite of pathos. Where pathos builds intense emotion, bathos is an abrupt drop from something serious or elevated to something trivial or ridiculous.

For example, a speech building toward a powerful climax that suddenly ends with a dull or really simple observation creates bathos. Alexander Pope coined the term in 1727, deliberately mocking writers who aimed for pathos but missed.

Knowing the difference matters when analysing texts. If a writer creates an emotional moment that feels forced, overblown, or accidentally comic, that's bathos, not pathos. Some writers also use bathos intentionally for humour, satire, or irony.

Pathos Examples

Here are three examples of pathos across different contexts.

Literature: In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the death of Tiny Tim is pure pathos. Dickens uses Bob Cratchit's quiet grief, the crutch, and the empty chair by the chimney to make readers feel the weight of his loss. The specific domestic details (the chair, the crutch) do more emotional work than any grand statement could.

Speeches: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech uses pathos when he describes his “little” children being "judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character". He also refers to “our children” to connect the argument to his audience. By making the argument personal and connecting it to vulnerable children, he evokes a sympathetic and emotional response.

Advertising: Charity adverts frequently use pathos. A slow-motion shot of a neglected animal, paired with soft music and a child's voiceover, is designed to trigger an immediate emotional response. The technique works because pathos doesn't ask you to think. It asks you to feel.

“It’s worth noting that pathos is used in fiction and non-fiction to slightly different effect. In fiction, pathos evokes sympathy for characters to raise themes, but in non-fiction it’s usually used to strengthen an argument. For instance, Charles Dickens wants readers to sympathise with the vulnerable Tiny Tim and his poverty-stricken family to present a lack of social care in Victorian England. Charity leaflets use pathos to encourage donations by highlighting the urgent need for support.” 

Sam Evans, English Tutor

How to Analyse Pathos in Your Writing

Spotting pathos in a text is one thing. Analysing it well is another. Here's a practical framework.

What to look for:

• Word choice with emotional weight (e.g. "shattered" rather than "broken")

• Sensory details that make the reader see, hear, or feel something

• Personal stories, anecdotes, or mention of specific individuals rather than statistics

• Tone shifts that move from neutral and rational to emotionally charged

• Rhetorical questions designed to make the reader reflect

How to write about it: Start by naming the specific technique. Then explain what emotion it creates and why the writer chose it at that point in the text. Don't just say "the writer uses emotive language to create pathos". That's too vague. Instead, quote specific words or phrases and explain the effect on the reader.

A strong analytical sentence might look like this: "Owen's image of the soldier ‘gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs’ forces the reader to hear the physical suffering, creating pathos that argues against patriotic heroism and glory.”

Common mistakes:

• Saying a text "uses pathos" without identifying the specific technique

• Confusing pathos with sympathy (pathos is the technique; sympathy is one possible response)

• Ignoring why the writer uses pathos at that specific moment in the text

Save My Exams offers revision notes written by experienced teachers and examiners on poems like Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est. The notes cover the analytical techniques you need to discuss writers' methods confidently, and break down key concepts like rhetorical appeals, language analysis, and essay structure across all the major exam boards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between pathos and empathy?

Pathos is a technique used by a writer or speaker to evoke emotion. Empathy is the feeling itself: the ability to understand and share someone else's emotions. A writer uses pathos to create empathy in the reader, but they're not the same thing. Pathos is the cause; empathy is one possible effect.

Can pathos be used to manipulate an audience?

Yes, and it often is. Propaganda, misleading advertising, and sensationalist journalism all rely on pathos to bypass critical thinking. That's why analysing pathos matters. Recognising when your emotions are being deliberately targeted helps you evaluate whether the underlying argument actually holds up.

How do you identify pathos in a speech?

Listen for personal stories, emotional language, and appeals to shared values like family, safety, or justice. If the speaker shifts from facts and logic to vivid descriptions or individual examples, they're likely using pathos. Pay attention to tone of voice and pacing too, as these can amplify emotional impact.

What emotions does pathos appeal to?

Pathos can target any emotion. Sadness and sympathy are the most commonly discussed, but anger, fear, hope, pride, guilt, and joy are all possibilities. The specific emotion depends on the writer's purpose. A charity appeal might aim for guilt; a political speech might aim for anger or hope.

Is pathos always about sadness?

Not at all. The word's Greek root relates to "feeling" broadly, not sadness specifically. A comedian using a personal story to make you laugh is using pathos. A motivational speaker building hope is using pathos. Any deliberate appeal to feeling counts, regardless of whether that feeling is positive or negative.

References: 

[1] . Cope EM, Sandys JE, eds. EDWARD MEREDITH COPE. In: Aristotle: Rhetoric. Cambridge Library Collection - Classics. Cambridge University Press; 2010:xiii-xx.

[2]  “I Have a Dream” Speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the “March on Washington,” 1963 (excerpts) I am happy to j.” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/king.dreamspeech.excerpts.pdf (opens in a new tab). Accessed 22 April 2026.

[3] Rapp, Christof. “Aristotle's Rhetoric (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 15 March 2022, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ (opens in a new tab). Accessed 22 April 2026.