Martin Luther King's Speech : The Supremacy Of Speech

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, King asserts that the war in Vietnam is a “symptom” (7) of a much larger disease that affects the “American spirit” (7). The disease King mentions is causing destruction where ever it is found, and in the case of the Vietnam war, it has led to their oppression and the death of people. In the section, Strange Liberators, King states, “They move sadly and apathetically as we heard them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs” (8). King believed that the disease was leading the United States to take drastic actions against the Vietnamese people. The U.S.

Humanity has become the most dominant species on Earth due to our high intelligence and communication skills but our communication can also be used to easily manipulate and convince. This manipulation is shown when, Mark Antony delivered a deeply passionate and articulate speech at Caesar’s funeral, altering the political dynamics of the Rome in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Antony uses his words to influence the Roman people. He effectively uses rhetorical devices to prove his point and gain the support of the citizens. Antony also uses the rhetorical device of Pathos to invoke emotion in the crowd and Ethos to use Brutus’ and the conspirator’s reputation against them.

Racism has always been a major problem in America. However, it was known to be the most problematic in the late 1950s. On August 28 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his infamous speech “I Have a Dream” to America. His dream highlighted the injustices of segregation and discrimination of African Americans that took place in this nation every single day. Dr. King inspired thousands despite the color of their skin, to take a stance against racism, with his powerful way with words. In his speech MLK efficaciously uses, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos by using allusions, developing credibility, in his speech to persuade all Americans to be aware of the problems with racism.

In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.

Murder can be defined as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus and his conspirators murder Caesar and convince the people of Rome that it was a justified act. Mark Antony, a friend of Caesar, seeks justice for his dear friend. In his funeral speech Antony uses rhetorical strategies to persuade the Romans that Caesar’s death was unjustified. Through persuasion, Antony uses the strategies: rhetorical questions, verbal irony and the appeal of pathos to sway the Romans to believe that Caesar’s murder was unjust. Furthermore, Antony’s use of rhetorical questions has an effect on the opinions of the citizens of Rome.

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, both Brutus and Mark Antony provide moving funeral speeches in hopes to sway the crowd towards their opinion. Brutus makes an attempt to assure the Roman people of his own innocence and justify the murder of Julius Caesar. Adversely, Mark Antony offers a speech to counter that of Brutus and act as the defense for Julius Caesar. While both speeches are sufficient in swaying their audience, Antony is able to use both pathos and antithesis more effectively and his use of the devices enables him to provide a far more compelling speech.

Martin Luther King Jr. built his speech around fighting unjust conditions placed on both African Americans and soldiers of the Vietnam war with non-violent protest. King is arguably the best speaker the world has seen, he knows how to get his audience passionate about the problems America faces while also informing them of what causes these problems.

The concept of persuasion through rhetoric and oratory has been used throughout history to manipulate the poor and disenfranchised. In Act Three, Scene Two of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare used Brutus and Marc Anthony to emphasize the power that properly used words have on the uneducated. When Brutus spoke to the crowd of plebeians, he used

In this world, few skills carry with them greater power than the skill of speaking to a crowd. A good speech can shatter the dreams or raise the hopes of millions. It can raise civilizations, or it can destroy them. The right speech can change the world. And the legendary writer William Shakespeare knew this well, as we see in one of his most popular plays; Julius Caesar. In the play, this power speech has is seen most heavily in the life of Brutus, who was not only manipulated by the words of others time after time, but tried to sway others with his own words, with some success even, but was often ruined by the even stronger rhetoric of others or perhaps by other events later on.

Plato once wrote that, “Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.” Rhetoric is the foundation of any solid argument, and any good speaker must learn to use it effectively. Creating a strong argument is a difficult task for any speaker, but Mark Antony’s eulogy for Caesar shows us that it can be done with the use of rhetorical strategies and arguments. Antony argues that Caesar was killed unfairly, and wants tells rome to revolt. He accomplishes this argument by using a combination of appeals to the audience's emotions, logic and facts, as well as reasoning and humility.

Brutus used repetition the most to influence the crowd. He states about Caesar’s “tears, love, and ambition.” Brutus also asked the audience rhetorical questions that they could not answer, and he would take their silence as if they were agreeing when in reality they were probably too scared to answer. Antony also used repetition to sway the crowd. He often pointed out that “Brutus was an honorable man” and he said it with more and more sarcasm each time. Antony also took advantage of the crowd and used reverse psychology on them. He used Caesar’s will as a tool to accomplish this. He told the crowd about Caesar’s will, telling them that they would think twice if they heard what was in the will, but he doesn’t read it to them. That made them beg for him to read it to them. Not only does this get them to do what he wants, it also give the crowd a false sense of authority over Antony. Also, he asks the crowd if he can come down and join them, saying they give him permission, again giving them that sense of authority. Antony, in addition to the will, used Caesar’s body as a prop in his speech. He created a sympathetic attitude towards Caesar. The other pathos appeal Antony used was the contrast that he showed between the beginning and end of his speech. He opened, saying he was only to “bury Caesar, not to praise him” yet towards the end he had accomplished his goal in making the crowd feel sorry for Caesar and wanting to

Applying rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos utilizes the key points in persuading an audience. Mark Antony’s speech to the Citizens of Rome and Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a Dream” speech both consist of rhetorical devices that convinces the audience to act against injustice. Mark Antony uses rhetorical devices in his speech to persuade the plebeians to seek revenge on the conspirators, who unjustly murdered Julius Caesar, whereas Martin Luther King Jr. uses the rhetorical devices to appeal to the audience by gathering and civilly protesting against the unfair treatment towards the minority of America.

As stated by Martin Luther King Jr., in this world, “there are two types of laws: just and unjust,” and I’m sure most everyone can see both types in our government. Many laws put in by the american government are seen as one that is an inalienable right while others are seen as unfair and need to be rejected immediately. However, in the 21st century, even if citizens believe such cruel laws should be changed, their first idea is normally to post something on the internet and rant about it. That right there is them practicing their 1st amendment right to the freedom of speech. In other words, it is the right of the people to be able to protest the unjust laws of the government, putting them in check of the power they have over the people. Even if they have this right to go against the government 's wishes, there have been many cases in history, such as protests in LA and Ferguson, Missouri, where protests turn to violent riots which result in unnecessary death and destruction. How can we stop these riots and violent acts without taking away the citizens right to the first amendment? Where do we draw the line to what citizens protest about? Well, we cannot write a law that prevents one from protesting his or her opinion. However, even though the majority of people may disagree with someone 's protest, they still have the right to the first amendment: Only if the protest they execute is civil and done in a peaceful manner. If citizens decide they need to protest in order to

In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, rhetorical devices are commonly used to persuade the audience. During the speeches many devices were effectively used to convince the Romans to choose the side of the argument being presented. Mark Antony’s speech ended up being more effective than Brutus’s due to his use of pathos throughout to help his point be made that Caesar did not deserve to

Cassius, Brutus, and Antony use rhetoric successfully in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, albeit each differently and for different causes. Each of these men uses his skills in rhetoric to convince each other and at some points the entire population of Rome to follow his beliefs. However, each of these men has different motivations to do so, as well as different characteristics and general worldviews.