Editing Kenneth Burke (section)

===Rebirth cycle===
Through the use of dramatism, one can ultimately utilize Burke's Rebirth Cycle.  This cycle encompasses three distinct phases, which include: Guilt/Pollution, Purification, and Redemption.  Burke introduced the phases and their functionality through the use of a poem.  The poem follows, 
"Here are the steps
In the Iron Law of History That welds Order and Sacrifice 
Order leads to Guilt
(For who can keep commandments!) Guilt needs Redemption
(for who would not be cleaned!) Redemption needs Redeemer (which is to say, a Victim!) 
Order
Through Guilt
To Victimage
(hence: Cult of the Kill)..." (p. 4-5) <ref>Burke, Kenneth. The Rhetoric of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. Print.</ref>
Burke's poem provides a basis of for the interactions of the three phases. Order's introduction into the life of human enables the creation of guilt. In order to alleviate the results produced by the creation of Guilt, redemption is necessitated.  Through the abstraction of redemption, Burke leads to the completion of the cycle.

Pollution initially constitutes actions taken by an individual that result in the creation of Guilt.  The creation of Guilt occurs upon the rejection of a hierarchy. Challenges to relationships, changes in power, and appropriateness of behaviors to change are each contributing factors toward the formation of Guilt.<ref>Rybacki, Karyn & Rybacki, Donald. Communication Criticism: Approaches and Genres. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1991. Print.</ref> It is appropriate to draw parallels between the creation of Guilt, and the concept of [[original sin]]. Original sin constitutes "an offense that cannot be avoided or a condition in which all people share".<ref>Foss, Sonja K., Foss, Karen A., and Trapp, Robert. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2014. Print.</ref> Guilt represents the initial action that strips a situation of its perceived purity. The establishment of Guilt necessarily leads to the need to undergo purification to cleanse the individual affected by its recognition.  Purification is thus accomplished through two forms of "ritual purification." Mortification and victimage represent the available avenues of purification.

Stratification within society created by hierarchies allows for marginalization within societies.  Marginalization thus is a leading factor in the creation of Guilt, and leads to the need for mortification. Burke stated, "In an emphatic way, mortification is the exercising of oneself in 'virtue'; it is a systematic way of saying no to Disorder, or obediently saying yes to Order".<ref>Burke, Kenneth. The Rhetoric of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. Print.</ref> Mortification allows an individual's self-sacrifice which consequently enables them to rid themselves of impurities. Purification will only be reached if it is equal to an individual's degree of guilt.  If mortification cannot be reached, individuals will ultimately be forced to project, "his conflict upon a scapegoat, by 'passing the buck,' by seeking a sacrificial vessel upon which he can vent, as from without, a turmoil that is actually within".<ref name=":1">Burke, Kennth. ''A Rhetoric of Motives.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. Print.</ref> Sacrificial vessels allow for the extermination of an individual's Guilt while enabling them to remain virtuous. 
Victimage is the second form of ritual purification. Burke highlights society's need to rectify division within its ranks. He contended that "People so dislike the idea of division, their dislike can easily be turned against the man or group who would so much as name it, let alone proposing to act upon it".<ref>Burke, Kenneth. "The Rhetoric of Hitler's "Battle." ''Readings in Rhetorical Criticism.'' Ed. Carl R. Burgchardt. State College: STRATA Publishing, Inc. 2010. 238-253.</ref> Victimage allows for the creation of a scapegoat that serves as a depository of impurities in order to protect against entities that are alien to a particular society. The scapegoat takes on the sins of the impure, thus allowing redemption for the Guilty party. Through the course of these actions the scape goat is harnessed with the sins of the Guilty.

Redemption is reached through one of two options. Tragic redemption revolves around the idea that guilt combines with the principles of perfection and substitution in order that victimage can be utilized. This can be viewed as the "guilty is removed from the rhetorical community through either scapegoating or mortification".<ref>Borchers, Timothy. ''Rhetorical Theory: An Introduction''. Long Grove: Waveland Press, 2006.</ref> Comic enlightenment is the second form of redemption. This option allows the sins of the guilty to be adopted by Society as a whole, ultimately making Society guilty by association.