Gorgias and his Interpretation of Rhetoric

After reading the introduction to Gorgias and Encomium of Helen, I have gained a new angle on the concept of Rhetoric. Gorgias was a Rhetorician who convinced Athens to attack Syracuse. He later went on the teach Rhetoric as a sophist. Gorgias embraces the Sophist view of Rhetoric in that he taught persuasive speaking. He believed Rhetoric could be used to get people out of bad situations. He also developed Kairos the principle of timing in persuasive speech. His work both challenges and complements my definition of Rhetoric. As I stated in a previous post, Rhetoric has a negative connotation. I believe Gorgias was one who used Rhetoric as a tool in order to show that even the wrong things can be done. His view challenges mt definition by forwarding an ethics-free view of rhetoric. Now that I have this in mind, I will add it to my growing definiton.

What was Gorgias trying to demonstrate about Rhetoric in Encomium?

I think that Gorgias was trying to further use his ethics-free view to show that even a detestable person can be viewed as good through powerful persuasive speech. In the reading it says that Helen would have been viewed as unpopular as Adolph Hitler, and Gorgias took a shot at proving her just through Ethos. Gorgias was trying to demonstrate how useful the skill of rhetoric is. If he can make Helen seem not so bad, imagine what rhetoric could do for a Greek citizen in a trail, or a salesmen trying to convince people to buy their product?