I Have A Dream Rhetorical Essay

"I Have A Dream" is a mesmerizing speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was delivered to the thousands of Americans on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to African American under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.

He uses short sentences very frequently to drum his ideas into the audiences mind. A perfect example of these short sentences is when King says, ?This is our hope.? By making those four words a complete sentence, it emphasises the individual words and really persuades the audience towards his ideas. Another persuasive structural technique which King uses to captivate the audience is the length of his paragraphs. He signposts the beginnings and ends of his paragraphs very effectively throughout his speech using recurring ideas. An example of this is when he starts 8 consecutive paragraphs with the words, ?I have a dream?. This helps the audience to understand his speech and each of the different points he makes. Another structural aspect of his speech which makes it easy to listen to is the grouping of ideas. The major grouping of the ideas in the speech is in two parts. The beginning of the speech is about how black people were being mistreated at the time and how the Negro was, ?sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.? The second part of the speech however, was all about looking to the future. It was about his dream of a nation where people, ?will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.? This structure to his speech makes it easy to listen to and helps draw the audience in to him.

In Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech (1963) "I Have a Dream," brings an up-roaring excitement to his audience, African-Americans, which fills their hearts. He employ's cases of diction and parallelism, telling everyone that he wants African-Americans to be truly free. This turned the tides for African-Americans in the United States, filling them with enthusiasm and the yearning for change.

Dr. King used pathos and logos as well as ethos in his speech to appeal to the audience in a more emotional way. He mostly attempts to appeal to the audiences’ emotions, fears, and desires. When King repeats with the infamously famous quote, “I have a dream,” he stresses a sense of sympathy and hope towards the African American population during that time period. King states that the, “Negro…finds himself in exile in his own land.” In this phrase, King yields compassion as one can see when he emphasizes the unfair treatment and alienation of the African Americans. King also uses highly connotative language so that he could evoke a, emotional response to the audience such as, “chains of discrimination” and “oppression” to reinforce the need

In addition to King’s uses of allusions, the speech contains many contrasting metaphors and similes that influence his audience very effectively. He begins by pointing out that even though Negros are freed from slavery, they are still slaves “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King then goes on about how “America has given the negro people a bad check” whereas the check in this instance symbolizes their right to equality because the mistreatment of the Negroes and racial discrimination is evident and the check “has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’” meaning they have yet to feel what they too, are guaranteed. With that understanding of human nature, Martin Luther King, Jr. compares gradualism to a tranquilizing drug, implying that people have a tendency to relax when things are “cooling off.” But he urges for his people not to relax and to take charge “to make justice in reality for all of God’s children.”

African American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech, addresses racism against Negros and demands equal rights and freedoms. King’s purpose is to motivate his audience to join him in fighting for what they deserve. He shifts from an urgent, demanding tone at the beginning of the speech to a more hopeful and patriotic tone towards the end. Throughout the speech, Dr. King appeals to the audience’s desire to better their futures by utilizing figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, and rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism.

Dr. King uses a great deal of figurative language to give people a better understanding of his views and the reasons for

On August 28th, 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. He spoke passionately for 17 minutes on his views about human equality for African Americans at one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in history. King played a major role in ending the segregation for African Americans. His rhetorical language left an impact on America. Through his use of appeals like ethos, logos, pathos, and other rhetorical techniques. He influenced Americans to believe in the notion that all men are created equal.

The primary purpose of Dr. King’s eloquent and dramatically delivered speech is that of persuasion. King’s claim is the Negro people are still not free one hundred years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. This warrant is supported by King’s effective emotional appeal to his African American audience. He supports this with the following: "but one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” This is emotional because after one hundred years of oppression, the African American community has still not achieved their cultural and economic potential according to King. He is endeavoring to persuade his audience, fellow minorities and

King also uses allusion to augment his point in his speech. Throughout his speech he makes many references to the Bible. “…justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream” (King). King alludes to the bible verse Amos 5:24. Through the allusion, King depicts that he wants justice to overtake the injustices of discrimination, and for justice to not only overcome discrimination, but for it to flow through America forever. King believed that humans live in a world where God does not judge people by their race and that people should not judge each other off of the color of their skin. “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (King). This line in King’s speech alludes to the bible verses Isaiah 40:4-5. Although he does not quote the verses verbatim, this connects King’s message with the religious sides of people, as the majority of people practiced Christianity in America at this time. King dreams that one day

In his speech he says, “/ […]/ Negro / […]/ finds himself in exile in his own land.” Not only does that phrase show his sympathy on Negros and their unfair treatment, but it acknowledges his audience’s emotions and leads them to have compassion towards those that do not have equality. Another example of pathos that he uses in his speech is to have emotional words to capture the hearts of his listeners such as, “shameful” “sadly crippled” “chains of discrimination” “guilty” and “hatred.” Dr. King uses these words in his speech to motivate and inspire his audience to have their voices heard in order to stop segregation. His use of pathos influences his audience/readers to make a stand for their

Contrary to many other politicians, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech sparked inspiration within his nation and other countries such as Britain who were also facing racial inequality. From his use of political rhetoric and his confident body language he was able to kick start a future where everyone was treated equally and through powerful rhetorical devices he was able to change the world’s perceptions on racism and inequality. Throughout a large section of the speech Martin Luther King uses powerful and vivid metaphors to ignite an emotional response from his audience. He starts the metaphor by saying ‘We have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check’ and in the following paragraphs uses jargon such as ‘insufficient funds’,

Throughout his speech Dr. King used ethos, or an ethical appeal to convince his audience that he was an authority figure worth listening to. He uses his profound knowledge of history to show that things were not fair for the Negro people. He praises the founders of our nation by referring to the Declaration of Independence stating, “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This statement that he makes no only shows the crowd that he is a knowledgeable person, it lets them see him as an authority figure because he is saying that

One technique that King uses is repetition, especially at the beginning of sentences. For instance, he repeats “One hundred years later” four times at the beginning of his speech (1).This highlights how little has changed from the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Employing repetition like this makes his statement more memorable and”gives a greater” impact on the audience.Later in his speech, King replays eight times in successive sentences: “I have a dream” (3).The use of this statement forges a connection with the audience as they too have similar dreams. By presenting his desires this way, he unites the crowd, and they dream together of a future characterized by freedom.Finally, he ends with several statements of “let freedom ring” (3). His use of repetition here reminds the assemblance that he wants freedom for everyone in “every state and every city”(4). King is trying to inspire the listeners to act on the issue and peacefully fight for freedom and equality for all. In short, he utilizes recurrences as a pervasive feature in his address.

King is extremely emotive in his speech, and uses incredibly descriptive and poetic phrasing to demonstrate the eloquence of his argument. His use of words like "Now" and "today" imply a great need for immediate action regarding civil rights; the fact that he is so well-spoken is intentionally utilized in the speech to lend credence to his words. Given the stereotype at the time that blacks were unintelligent and uneducated, King 's responsibility to show the capabilities of black rhetoric was great. King, as a religious man, brings spirituality into the speech itself, but not in a self-aggrandizing way; he merely states that racial justice should be done as it is according to God 's will.