Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream

This speech, written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. titled, “I Have a Dream,” was addressed to an audience of hundreds of thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C. It was intended to motivate his audience to believe in his cause of unity amongst all of mankind. His speech teaches that people all around the world are created equal. Martin Luther King Jr. uses various literary features throughout his speech in order to establish the unification of people of any background or skin color, and to encourage his audience to accomplish this goal.

In 1963, minister and rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech in front of Lincoln memorial to bring awareness to the unfairness of injustice for black people. King's speech was an effort to try and mandate the coming together of the black and white race and finally have the equality between us all be put into force for a free nation. As the speech left King’s mouth and entered 250,000 citizens ears, it left them to think about what point he was trying to make because he uses pathos, logos, and ethos.

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. makes appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos to convince the clergymen that colored people have been waiting for too long for political, economic, and social justice and freedom. He argues that it’s unfair to promise someone, or a group, for a change and not fulfill that promise. Along with demonetizing and/or belittling a person to the point where they don’t feel as important or as worth as they should; making them feel hatred and anger towards the person(s) that inflicted the pain on them, and anger towards their ethnic/culture. Also, that he is needed and wanted in Birmingham. King appeals to ethos to establish credibility and biblical allusion. King uses logos to process his

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who genuinely knew how to capture his audiences with his words. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” makes an appeal to his reader about the injustices that have been set in place by the oppressor. In the letter he talks about numerous things, mortal authority in Christian communities, American ideas, and the suffering of the African American community. Dr. King uses logos to persuade the reader why he s protesting in the first place because the oppressor has broken the negotiation between the whites and the African American. His logical argument to why the ideal way to proceed with non-violent protests is because of the political decisions that have been made. An example he brings up is the idea of there being just and unjust laws in America and as citizens those unjust should be deliberately disobeyed. Dr. King says, “Conversely, one has a mortal responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” he soon starts to define what both type of laws means…”A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law…An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the mortal law.” In order to persuade his reader about the idea he has do more than engage with the readers emotions. By Dr. King defining what the difference between the two laws sets a more conceiving idea of the treatment towards African American. Martin Luther King basic point is unjust laws do not just hurt the one being oppressed but also the one doing the oppressing. This is more of logos appeal for the reason he is not trying to connect with the reader emotionally but rather make sure the reader understands his cause for the protests.

Logos is the appeal to logic, meaning to convince an audience by use of logic or reason. The following are examples of logos used by Jackson: “The Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution were the results of our fathers’ attempts to put on paper the ideals that inspired the birth of the nation, and those principles by which and on which the nation was erected and sustained” (Jackson 2). “The civil rights struggle then is not a struggle to negate the high and lofty philosophy of American freedom. It is not an attempt to convert the nation into an armed camp or to substitute panic and

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail that went on to become one of the most controversial and important pieces of work during the Civil Rights Movement. Like many other well written rhetorics, King alludes and uses Aristotle’s three main appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. How does King uses these appeals in his rhetoric? King effectively uses these appeals to evoke his audience’s emotion to feel remorseful for the extremity that African Americans went through and dealt with.

Martin Luther King Jr. had written the Letter from the Birmingham Jail in 1963. King was a well-known minister-- particularly throughout the southern region, and a great advocate who fought non-violently for justice and equality for the Negro. The use of the word “Negro” sets the timeline. King used every approach from the Aristotelian appeal in order to seize the moment while writing this letter. Immediately, the use of the rhetorical tools of logos, ethos, pathos, and kairos carried the words in his letter and credibly formed a discourse of morality, knowledge, and purpose. A valid, and credible argument was designed by using ethos-- for the most part in maintaining an assertive and persuasive tone, while simultaneously refuting the ideals of the opposing views and criticisms from the authority and his fellow white clergymen who also supposedly shared religious ideologies as Martin Luther King Jr.

In this article “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. discussed the problems with racial inequality that African Americans were facing in the 1960s. King wants freedom for his “people”. He wanted to discourage Americans from tolerating racial discrimination and to advise Americans to live up to the ideals of the country’s belief that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He is trying to convince the clergymen that the actions he took were absolutely necessary at this time. In doing this, he provides a valid argument using Ethos, Logos, and Pathos throughout his piece.

In Dr king’s speech he uses both logos and pathos. In his speech Dr king uses logical information to explain how racism is becoming a major deal in America.“We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakaborrors of police brutality”(King 263)The quote appealed to his aquince be telling them how bad the black community is being treated. On the other hand Dr king also uses pathos

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.

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 begin with, MLK uses the rhetorical device Logos in his “I have A Dream” speech. He states on page 261 paragraph 2,”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” King selects this rhetorical device to make his speech more influential, respected, and effective by using this piece of logical information. King chooses this example of Logos to make his speech more influential, respected, and effective because when he stated that when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the signature “gave hope to millions of Negro slaves…It became a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” Based on his statement, we can conclude that many African American slaves had hope that other African Americans had a better future ahead of them. This rhetorical device persuades the audience to respect The Civil Rights Movement because he mentioned Abraham Lincoln. To elaborate, this mentioning of Lincoln persuades people to respect The Civil Rights Movement because Lincoln is known as “Americas Greatest President.” Being known as “Americas Greatest President” would influence people to respect the movement because those who believed he was “Americas Greatest President” would most likely contribute to the movement. Abraham Lincoln was known for being “Americas Greatest President” for many reasons, one of the reasons being how he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Mentioning Abraham Lincoln fits into the occasion which is to end segregation and fight for freedom because it shows how even after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation; African Americans are still not free. By this I mean Colored people are still being treated differently and unfairly compared to Whites. This also fits

According to the speech, “ I Have a Dream” Martin Luther King Jr. develops the theme of how trusting others will lead them to unity by using the symbol lonely island and alluding to Abraham Lincoln. The reason why Martin Luther King wants everyone to unite is that he wants everyone to come together treat each other the same and wants to transform our nation into a beautiful brotherhood. Where we would be able to work together and unite as one nation. He uses the symbol lonely island because it shows how the Negro’s are lonely and stranded with poverty, but if the nation unites Negro’s wouldn’t suffer as much because they are working together with whites and to help one another. According to the speech, it implies the symbol to a lonely island,

In the speech by Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” develops the theme, it doesn't matter what is in the outside but the characteristics of a person by using the symbol of the bad check and the alluding to the constitution of the united states. As King is using the Constitution of the united states as an example of how all men were promised equality to all men King mentions, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. ” King uses a bad check to symbolize the lack of civil rights African Americans received.