Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

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.

One hundred years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to stop slavery, Martin Luther King, Jr. presented the “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands of people. The day Luther King, Jr.’s speech was the day of the March on Washington, which was for the support of the rights o colored citizens, and for the termination of segregation. King delivered this speech with a tone of hope and determination in order to convince colored people to fight for their rights and persuade the citizens that all lives matter and should be treated equally. He also delivered it in order to urge the rights these people deserved. Luther stood before all these people to express his thoughts on equality and the rights his people were stripped of. Kings’ audience consisted of the citizens of America that believed in equality for all races. In the “I Have a Dream” Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr used many metaphors, similes, analogies, Pathos, and Mythos to connect with his audience on a superior level and develop his tone.

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than forty years ago, Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech demanded racial justice towards the mistreated black community of America. The theme of the speech was that all humans were created equal and that this should be the case for the future of America. King's words proved to touch the hearts of millions of people and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening to the black Americans. This did not happen by chance. Martin Luther King's speech was carefully constructed so it would have the most appropriate diction to propose his facts and ideas. His speech involved multiple different literary techniques which were very

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.

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.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most influential speeches in history. Throughout his speech, King employs many rhetorical devices that further his appeal for civil rights. King establishes his credibility as soon as he steps to the podium. King, an American civil rights activist and leader, was already known by the American people for his leadership throughout the civil rights movement. His leadership role as a civil rights activist asserts his message as credible and true to the American people. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech addresses the grueling topic of racism in what will go down in history as “the greatest demonstration for freedom” and one of the most influential movements toward an end to institutionalized

In the fifth paragraph, King uses repetition of the phrase “Now is the time” to prompt urgency upon his audience. He wanted to make it known that it was then that they had to take action. At the end of this paragraph, he states, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brother” (King Jr., Martin Luther). In this sentence, ‘quicksand’ represents a trap the country is stuck in, which he wants to fight to get out of. In order to get out of quicksand, you must do so calmly, which explains why he makes this comparison. He wants their fight for freedom to be calm, avoiding violence in all ways, yet effective.

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

He is sadly mentioning the facts that over many years and a century past, the African-American are still not seen equal by the government of their country. Being the largest minority group of that time, still African-American were treated like a poor slave. He says, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination”(King Jr. “I Have a Dream”). This is the part where he wants the audience to realize and wake up. He wants his audience to realize that it is time to raise their voice and fight for their freedom. Justice was lean during those times (the early 1960s) and the African-American were always the target of this brutality.

The repetition of the phrase “now is the time” serves as a persuasive technique employed by King in order to stress to the audience that it is vital to protest against racism now. He is able to convince the audience that it would be “fatal” to their movement for equal rights if they were to “overlook the urgency of now.” He outlines that no African American will be satisfied as long as “[their] children are stripped of their selfhood” and “robbed of their dignity.” Emotive language such as this encourages the audience to sympathise with those who are affected in such ways by racism, and compels them to support his cause. Although King is adamant about change, he outlines that many who have attempted to fight for their rights have ended up in “narrow jail cells” and have faced “great trials and tribulations,” yet King maintains hope.

“[The] Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation,”.stated Martin Luther King, Jr. in his speech “I Have A Dream,”.which he gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, during a march on Washington (1).King’s purpose in his speech was to expound on the need for change in civil rights, especially for black Americans. By utilizing repetition, an extended metaphor and light and dark imagery,King connects logically and emotionally to his audience to evoke a sense of power to overcome racism.

This use of anaphoras allows the tone to remain calm yet forthright, thus creating a euphony that demonstrates the peace King seeks and encourages in this time of utmost urgency, injustice and significance. Furthermore, by exerting phrases such as, “But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One Hundred years later, the life of the Negro is sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One Hundred years later…” (King Par. 3) highlights the dream and hope that was given to blacks too many years

In Martin Luther King Jr. 's seminal 1963 speech "I Have a Dream," King uses a number of critical thinking processes in order to present his argument. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, King delivered a speech that is remembered now as one of the most significant pieces of oratory in the 20th century. His call was for blacks and whites to come together, for blacks to be granted greater freedoms and for America to become a nation of equals. Not only was the speech thought-provoking and emotional, but King 's points were excellently handled and deftly conveyed through his use of

Picture yourself living in a society where people are judged and hated upon because of the pigment of their skin, terrible right? Enslaved, criticized, and alienated because there were “different” from everyone else. Even when granted freedom, colored men and women were still treated as if they were peasants to America. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech had the power to motivate this broken society to end their racist ways. After being lied to for many of years about being “free”, King decided that during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he would put an end to it all. After hundred of years of being hurt by the “manacles of segregation and the chains of determination”(“ American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King I