Pronouns, Persuasion, and Performance in the Athenian Courtroom: ΟΥΤΟΣ in Lysias

Abstract

This article examines the performative and rhetorical roles of the deictic pronoun οὗτος in the forensic speeches of Lysias. A distinction between deixis and anaphora, it argues, is inadequate to explain the connotations of οὗτος. Simultaneously a visual pointer and pronoun of givenness, οὗτος contributes to speakers’ rhetorical strategies by isolating the opponent from the speaker and judges and presenting the opponent (and his guilt) as already familiar to the judges. The connotations of οὗτος are often, but not always, negative. They depend on how the speaker presents the relationship among himself, his addressee(s), and the third party designated by οὗτος.