Pathos is a mode of persuasion that aims to convince someone on something by appealing to their emotions. This rhetorical device is characterized for not expressing statistic elements or facts that support the speaker's claim, but, instead, for being highly subjective and to evoke strong emotions.
Depending on the literary work, an author uses pathos to help readers emotionally connect with and feel closely related to a point, an argument, a situation, an idea or a character within a story, by evoking strong emotions like empathy, sorrow, desire for justice, fear and humor.