This paper centers on the speaker-addressee relation that underpins oratory, and wants to bring back into the spotlight oratory's transcending dimension, which can be explained within enunciative-pragmatic theory by reference to Rhetorical Staging. Oratory is first determined as the instantiation of various discursive divides, or thresholds, which can be linked to Goffman's “partition” concept in the context of platform skills. These divides regard the speaker-addressee relation, based on a basic asymmetry, and the temporality and the production mode (oral versus written). Rhetorical Staging is then poposed. As a setup, it underscores these divides, as it activates a participant framework whereby the speaker endorses an elevated position, becoming a superspeaker-orator who appeals to a superaddressee, both of which are located within a wide-reaching community determined by shared values. Such a setup enables a better grasp of the rhetorical force behind certain political speeches, which are reviewed here (Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln).