A retórica de Getúlio Vargas: dispositivo de enunciação e legitimação autoritária

Abstract

This research lies at the interface between Discourse Analysis and the issue of Argumentation in Discourse. It aims to conduct a discursive-argumentative analysis of a singular speech – unique in its discursive nature and historical relevance – delivered by one of the most important political figures in Brazilian history. The adopted methodology is qualitative and interpretative, as it seeks to identify the occurrence of discursive elements that indicate a materialization and articulation of the images of the speaker and the audience in the chosen monodocumental corpus for analysis. The study fundamentally integrates an analytical approach called argumentation in discourse, formulated by Ruth Amossy (2020 [2000]; 2011), in line with theoretical conceptions of political discourse developed by Eliseo Verón (1987; 2004) shaping a line of inquiry herein referred to as Rhetorical Discourse Analysis. The selected speech, Proclamação ao povo brasileiro, was taken from the work A Nova Política do Brasil and delivered by Getúlio Vargas on the night of November 10, 1937, to justify the establishment of the regime known as the Estado Novo, which lasted from 1937 to 1945. The analysis demonstrates how the discursive construction of the enunciative device – constituted by the coupled images of the speaker and his audience – shapes an entire persuasive dynamic centered on legitimizing a distinctly authoritarian political platform. The choice of Getúlio Vargas is justified by the relevance of this figure as a turning point in the political history of Brazilian society after its independence. Thus, the study identifies an overarching discursive strategy that bifurcates the universe of political representations around the fundamental principle of the Nation-State. This radical, morally determined split contrasts the common good, associated with the Nation, the Armed Forces, and the State, against those who oppose it: regional warlords, professional politicians integrated into the liberal regime, and supporters of extremist movements such as communism and fascism.