Persuasive Logos

Martin Luther King’s inspiration for writing his, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was mainly to appeal to an undeniable injustice that occurred during his time. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King effectively crafted his counterargument after analyzing the clergymen’s unjust proposals and then he was able to present his rebuttal. Dr. King effectively formed his counterargument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen and then using logos, pathos and egos to present his own perspective on his opponent’s statements.

Martin Luther King went to jail for protesting for blacks in Birmingham in 1963. During the early starts of the civil rights movement he wrote a letter while in jail addressing the criticism people showed towards him who should have known better to not bash him in negative ways. It is known that the Birmingham Letter was the most important letter documented in the civil rights era. The letter provided as a long road to freedom in a civil rights movement. In this letter there are three appeals shown in the text. One appeal is known as Ethos. Ethos means to convince the audience of the authors work or character. Pathos is another appeal which is intended to persuade an audience which has to relate to their emotions. The third one is logos which appeals to logic also known to convince an audience by the use of reason.

Persuasive writing is most effective when all three rhetorical appeals, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, come together to form an indisputable argument. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are two of the most influential figures of the past few decades; similarly, their work is summarized as some of the most persuasive and controversial of all time. The audience of both of their pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” include oppressed African Americans and the white oppressors themselves. Each man takes full advantage of the three rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences to support their radical theories about racial inequality in the 1960’s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is the most effective because of its hopeful emotions, irrefutable facts and, of course, the respected author.

Some varieties of inspiration come as passionate love while others appeal as injustice as did Martin Luther King in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Martin Luther King Jr. effectively crafted his counter argument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen, and then using logos, pathos, and ethos to refute his opponent's statements and present his own perspective. After stating the general purpose of his letter, Martin Luther King Jr. specifically addressed the clergymen to set up for his logical counterargument.

Writing from the heart, expressing feelings, having a strong emotional impact on ones audience, using an appeal to emotion and logic, using facts and presenting arguments in a professional way, to the enlightenment of one's viewers; Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail; consists of three Rhetorical Strategies throughout his letter that is known and taught around the world as ETHOS, PATHOS and LOGOS. An appeal to ethics, a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader (ethos), an appeal to emotion, and a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response (Pathos), and finally, an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason (Logos); these three Rhetorical Strategies are used countless times throughout Martin Luther King’s Letter for Birmingham Jail.

Persuasive works use many rhetorical devices to help the writer or speaker grab the audience's attention, or even manipulate certain emotions. Martin Luther King, Jr. used rhetorical devices in his works to create responses in his audience. He chose which devices to use based on his audience and the occasion. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was meant to carry emotional appeal, while his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” focused on logical appeal.

Have you ever head of logic and emotion in a speech and a letter. Well in the speech “I have a dream” and “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by M.L.K shows logic and emotion. ‘I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Genre: Speech. Audience: crowd. Occasion: The March at the Lincoln Memorial. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Genre: Letter. Audience: 8 Clergymen. Occasion: responding to the criticism while in jail. In both of these selections M.L.K showed emotion and logic to appeal to his audience.

In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.

We have all heard Martin Luther King’s famous speech, I have a Dream. His main goal was to convince everyone across the country to comprehend racial equality and to reinforce a solution for those individuals already engaged in the Civil Rights movement. You could say his speech was part of what made the movement successful. By him taking a stand, much attention was put into the problems that were going on. He was and still is viewed as an important leader who was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Here we will basically dissect parts of his speech and define the points he was making and trying to make. Throughout the paper, you will see how Dr. King uses Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to show his audience and make them feel what went on.

To explain a situation or argument successfully, one must understand and be able to use rhetoric and its devices. One prime example of the use of rhetorical appeals is in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. In this letter, King simply responds to certain criticisms and explains his presence in Birmingham. He does this effectively by building a historical ethos, appealing to heart-wrenching pathos, and using undeniable logos; which will all be discussed in this essay.

Martin Luther King’s use of Pathos and Logos in “I have a Dream” showcases how he uses the devices to inspire others, compared to how he uses these rhetorical devices in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to persuade the Clergymen. Martin Luther King, also referred to MLK, uses both Pathos and Logos to fit the audiences and occasions for each text. His uses of Pathos and Logos in these two texts are examples of how words can inspire change.

This ad was chosen because it was thought to be persuasive. The reason it was thought to be persuasive was because of its visuals(Logos). Another reason is because it talked about the subject at hand(Ethos). The reason it was thought to be persuasive was because of these 2 things. There is another, but it wasn't used very well. That other one was Pathos. It appeals to emotion, but no emotions were really used.

Appealing to the audiences’ emotions plays a crucial role in the act of persuasion and much like Obama, Martin Luther King does just that with his utilization of pathos. “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their

The final persuasive strategy used is Logos. Logos technique is advising you with facts about the reverse mortgage benefits. It entices you by government insured and regulated with no taxes and no payments. The NO monthly mortgage payments has double asterisk which is the fine print or details which are briefly shown at the end of the advertisement and cannot be read by the targeted age group as the print is so small and the terms are flashed very

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr inspired America with one of the most monumental speeches in history: “I Have a Dream”. The speech was targeted at the entire nation, specifically towards African Americans fighting injustice and white Americans supporting racial injustice with the main purpose of convincing the white people that all racial injustice towards mistreated African Americans needs to come to an end while bringing the two races together, as well as standing up for the natural and constitutional rights afforded to all individuals. To convey his message to the thousands of eyes watching and triggered ears listening, King effectively uses the rhetorical devices -pathos, logos and ethos- using historical and literary references, repetition, and poetic devices.