Blog Post #2 - Crista Clayton

What is the relationship between rhetorical authority and image event? Rhetorical authority assumes its power when an image event stimulates discourse through the prevailing mode of perception in a current culture. This scopic regime is what determines the context surrounding either a verbal proposal or image event, thus determining the significance it may hold within a rhetorical realm as well. In Kristine Fleckenstein’s “Incarnate Word” she illustrates how St. Catherine of Siena combined verbal words and body image to break through the patriarchal conventions of the Middle Ages and establish a new credibility and role for women in society and the church. One of the major points Fleckenstein uses to build her argument is this concept of “scopic regime” which is defined as “the tacit cultural rules of differing times, places, and people that enable a community to see some things and not others.” In my opinion, the scopic regime just sounds like a fancy word for cultural context- it encompasses all of the virtues and expectations that regulate the typical way of life in a certain place and time period. St. Catherine went against this regime of her time when she decided to dedicate her life to the service and preaching of the gospel- a role traditionally held by men. It is by breaking these traditional customs that she created her own rhetorical authority and was able to spark change in the scopic regime that oppressed in the dominion of religious affairs. St. Catherine chose to align her body with textual images in order to deliver her methods. With an unwavering devotion to Christ and the reformation of the church, she used her shriven body to offer mercy to an undeserving world and establish a place for women in the deliverance of the gospel. Fleckinstein says that St. Catherine used the scopic regime of identification during the time period to her advantage, combining the meaning behind what people see and how they see it in order to create a persuasive image event that breached the expectations of society. This demonstrates the extreme rhetorical power behind imagery and how that power increases when intertwined with language. Catherine was a strong and powerful force that commanded a place for women in a time where the purview of the patriarchy dominated all.