Burke's Pentad

When it comes to the art of story telling, only certain forms of rhetoric are able to successfully portray the true motives of their characters. But what makes a good story differ from a great one, is the intertwining and complicity of motives from various characters. In the season five premier of South Park, I will use Burke's pentad in order to gain a better understanding of the motives, and establish whether or not the entire piece is successful.

Kenneth Burke refers to the pentad as, "The most concrete and describable feature of dramatism" (Burgchardt, 2010), He believes the components of act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose all form together to reveal the true motives of the characters. For our purposes, some background information is needed on the episode. The overall plot of the episode is evident, Cartman is seeking revenge on an older boy named Scott Tenorman who sold him his pubes. Cartman foolishly tried showing them of to his friends, claiming he was the first one in the group to get pubes. Little did he know that they are supposed to grow on you, leaving Cartman completely embarrassed in front of his friends. He then endures a series of failed and humiliating attempts to get reimbursed for his money, including a trip to the Fort Collins "pube fair" and begging and pleading while dancing like a "little piggy" on Tenorman's doorstep. From that point on, Cartman's revenge was inevitable.

ACT: Cartman and Scott Tenorman are face to face in a chili cook off when Cartman drops an absolute bomb. He reveals his plan of revenge, detailing the murder of Tenorman's parents, and telling Scott that the chili he is eating includes remains of his parents.

SCENE: Cartman holds his "Chili Carn Carnival" on a Tuesday in the town of South Park with the entire community present.

AGENT: Cartman- The main character seeking revenge

               Scott Tenorman- The bully who is attempting to further embarrass Cartman.

               Stan and Kyle- Cartman's "friends" who despise him and are hoping to see him fail

AGENCY: Cartman's ultimate goal is revenge, he creatively disguises his intentions. He knew his friends would tell Scott the original plan (which was to have a pony bight Tenorman's wiener off). He knew Scott would want to steal the pony, but he also predicted Scott would lie to his parents about the pony being sick and needed to be saved. Cartman then warned the rancher that pony thieves were on the loose. When Scott's parents showed up for the pony, the rancher shot and killed them. Cartman then stole the bodies, and made them into chili, which he fed to Scott during the chili cook off. 

PURPOSE: The entire purpose of this devilish plan was to get back at Scott for selling him fake pubes, lying about the "pube fair", making Cartman dance and oink like a "little piggy", and burning Cartman's money in front of him. 

Looking at Ratios

The next step of using Burke's Pentad involves examining the relationships between each individual component, in an effort to identify which ones are most important. 

ACT TO SCENE: This relationship paints a picture of the episode for us. We can see that this carnival was Cartman's attempt to gather as many people as possible, so that they could all see him embarrass Scott. 

ACT TO AGENT: This shows us Cartman's friends watching the two face off. They are expecting Cartman to get embarrassed. 

ACT TO AGENCY: This is the climax of the story. This is when Cartman reveals the truth behind the chili carnival. It gives us an insight as to just how smart Cartman really is.

ACT TO PURPOSE: In this instance, the purpose was achieved through the act. 

SCENE TO AGENT: This relationship shows us the total involvement of the community. 

SCENE TO AGENCY: Through this relationship, we can see the effectiveness of Cartman's plan. What also made it effective was that the motives was hidden from the audience until the climax. 

SCENE TO PURPOSE: The scene added another element to the purpose; public humiliation.

AGENT TO AGENCY: This relationship reveals the the differing dynamics between the agents.

AGENT TO PURPOSE: The purpose is a eery reminder to the rest of the agents of what Cartman is capable of. 

AGENCY TO PURPOSE: The agency heightened the achieving purpose of Cartman;s intentions. This relationship truly achieves a well thought-out story.

The use of the pentad digs deeper into rhetoric than possibly any other critique method. The most important relationship in this case is the agency to purpose. Those two things are what came together to create one of the franchises most viewed episodes. The rhetoric used in this episode is extremely effective, and will be remembered as one of the best episodes of South Park. 

Source:  Strata PublishinBurgchardt, C. R. (2010). Readings in Rhetorical Criticism. In C. R. Burgchardt, Readings in Rhetorical Criticism (pp. 270-283). Pennsylvania:g, Inc.