Mlk Analysis Dream Speech Essay

Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and a Civil Rights activist, became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is widely known for his speech that took place on 28 August 1963, “I Have a Dream.” This speech aimed toward the entire nation. King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice and for them all to stand up together for their rights. In this speech, King uses emotional and logical appeal to gain the audience's support. He applied many rhetorical devices to his speech to connect with the audience’s emotions, and to logically support his arguments.

"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.

By using allusion to historical leaders and documents, he reminds the audience of the past and strengthens his argument the time for change was long overdue. Repeating the phrases “I have a dream”, “Now is the time”, “Let freedom ring” and “Free at last”, King used anaphora and repetition to bring the speech to a great climax and leave the audience completely energized. King also used parallelism to unify the movement’s effort into one group of equal parts by urging the audience to “Go back to” Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, as well as “the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities”. He also used parallelism to send a message of unification to all parts of the country by repeating the phrase “Let freedom ring” combined with names of many of our country’s mountain ranges, just as in the song “America” by Samuel Francis Smith (My Country! ‘Tis of Thee). Perhaps it was King’s use of metaphors that made the speech draw in the audience. He described the circumstances of racism and inequality with phrases descriptive of slavery including “flames of withering injustice”, “chains of discrimination” which connected the audience to their past while inspiring them to change their future.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most successful and most legendary speeches in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. was a masterful speaker, who established a strong command of rhetorical strategies. By his eloquent use of ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as his command of presentation skills and rhetorical devices, King was able to persuade his generation that "the Negro is not free" (King 1). His speech became the rallying cry for civil rights and lives on as an everlasting masterpiece.

In a period of time where few were willing to listen, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood proudly, gathered and held the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was very effective and motivational for African Americans in 1963. Many factors affected Kings’ speech in a very positive manner; the great emotion behind the words, delivering the speech on the steps of the memorial of the President who defeated slavery. And not only was this message beautifully written for the hope of African Americans, but the underlying message for white people, revolution and peace. To stimulate emotion from both parties of his listeners, King used a selection of rhetorical devices such as allusions to historical

When King gets up there to speak, he knows that he is fighting and uphill battle and the only way to persevere is with the power of numbers. King does what not many can do through the power of speech, he makes a nation realize that there is know true constraint holding them back from making change for the better of their great nation. King uses multiple metaphors in his speech to connect with the audience and create and emotional bond, one that they can relate to, a bond that unifies the masses to feel and understand what King is

As King mentions on page 48,”It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned” (King 48). In this example, the readers learn that America did not keep it’s promise of equality among blacks and whites when in the earlier quote it talk about how America’s note has been discarded in the view of America’s citizens of color. This textual evidence suggests that the colored people of America haven’t received what they have been promised and that is why there is this problem in the present. King points out in his speech,”Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children” (King 49). By looking at the words that King spoke that day, readers can assume that colored citizens of this supposedly free country are having less freedom than everyone else of no color. This is important to note on the grounds that if the path of

While what King refers to throughout his speech creates an emotion that spreads through the crowd, he realized the power of words and their effect on people. He uses “horror,” “distrust,” and “brutality,” to represent what their past and present consisted of. “Glory,” “hope,” and “dream,” are used in his speech to show what their future would be like after that day. King starts of the speech retelling why the audience is there, fighting for their rights, and

Martin Luther King’s speech was made after the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He delivered the “I Have a dream” speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps. He verbalized this speech to millions of people blacks and whites. This is one of the greatest speeches because it has many elements like repetition, assonance and consonance, pathos, logos, and ethos.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave the “I Have a Dream Speech” to a large group of civil rights marchers gathered around the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example of how displays of anger must be controlled in order to be effective and lead to good outcomes. Throughout his entire speech he appeals to the emotions of the audience. By addressing that even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed to free the slaves, and many years later they are still not free. He is constantly reminding the people of color that they continue to be the race being segregated and discriminated by the white people. He blames the white people of being prejudice viewing

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.

Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have a Dream," was given to a crowd of 200,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. This speech turned out to be one of the greatest speeches ever given, due to Dr. King's background and beliefs that become evident through this speech. His background in the ministry is reflected in his great ability to speak to a public audience. Only someone with his talent in speaking could have put the words together so powerfully. His beliefs are personified in every line, which gives an in-depth look into the crisis of the time.

The “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King is recognised as one of the best speeches ever given. Here Stevie Edwards looks at what makes it so memorable.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights activist. He is most well known for his “I Have A Dream…” speech, which was spoken at the “March on Washington” on August 28, 1963. This speech is one of the most well known speeches in history, and will forever be remembered. The point of this speech was to help put an end to racism. King starts out with talking about some history, bringing up the Emancipation Proclamation and a few other events. He also talks about the dreams he envisions for his children and people everywhere.

We can separate the speech into two parts: The first half portrays not an idealised American dream but a picture of a seething American nightmare of racial Injustice. In the first half King used the metaphor of a bad check to describe how America kills mistreated African Americans, despite the words in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence which grants all people the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the second half of the speech, where he painted the dream of a better, fairer future of racial harmony and integration, he told the audience that now is the time to fight for democracy and brotherly