Rhetorical Analysis Of "I Have A Dream" Speech By Martin Luther King Jr.

The majority of the sentences in King’s letter can be connected to logos, pathos or ethos and his incorporation of appeals is masterful.

Subsequently, King exercises the strategy of pathos, the emotion appeal. In his statement, "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 quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God\'s children". The great use of imagery with the contrast of light vs. dark here definitely draws audience’s attention. Moreover, by making references to the government as a "Bank of Justice" that gave African Americans a "bad check," King describes the situation of the African American people. He proclaims that the "Bank" is not bankrupt and that it was time to "cash the check". These metaphors are easy to understand and are something that the audience can relate to.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the man who wrote the speech entitled “I have a dream” and presented it to nearly 250,000 people on August 23, 1963. In that speech, MLK Jr. used several different types of figurative language/rhetorical devices in order to convey his message to the people on a deeper level. These devices include personification, allusion, symbolism, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and anaphora.

In this speech, King utilizes diction throughout, such as "we," "America" and "free." Words like "we," and "America" in the same sentences and same speech, gives everyone, African-Americans, the feeling of being equal and they deserve to have the same rights. Thus giving hope to everyone that they will, one day, be equal in everyway and have the same unalienable

On August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a 17-minute public speech to over 200,000 supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was a response to continued racial bias nearly 100 years after the end of slavery and a call to action, meant to unify the country in the fight to end segregation. King used his time at the historic event to urge Americans, of all races, to work together throughout the country to ensure equality for all citizens. Though King’s delivery of the speech is widely recognized as impactful because of his passionate sermon-like delivery, the context of the speech contains many rhetorical components. Those rhetorical efforts

He refers to the principles voiced by the nation's founders in his appeal for racial equality. This strategy was especially important in light of the fact that the government was concerned that the Civil Rights movement might discredit the United States abroad. The government was worried that if they gave African-Americans freedom, the United States would be seen as weak and have been persecuting innocent people. Hence, it was perceptive of King to imply in the speech that he is not undermining the United States, but asking the country to do justice to the principles that were asserted to be the backbone of U.S. politics and society. King states, for example, that his dream was "deeply rooted in the American dream," (King 2) and that he dreams of a day when Americans "will be able to sing with new meaning `My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing'" (King 3). King then uses the words of that song to distinguish the different areas of the country where he hoped the United States would soon "let freedom ring" (King 3) for all its citizens. King alludes to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as being a "promissory note" (King 1) to all citizens, which those at the march were claiming as their inheritance. The speech gains power from King's stressing that he was asking the United States to live up to its principles and thus to fulfill the greatness of its pronounced creed.

Thesis: King brilliantly applies rhetorical strategies such as pathos, logos and ethos that are crucial in successfully influencing detractors of his philosophical views on civil disobedience.

With the people of The United States of America categorized as the audience, King speaks to people of all races and ethnicity. This discriminated audience included the grasping appeals to the ethos, pathos, and logos. As each appeal is fully informed of the rhetorical purpose, King finds a way to encourage all three. Through several metaphors and types of imagery, he makes the decision to speak to all of the appeals in order to accomplish to need for change. Clearly aimed directly at the hearts of blacks and making the whites feel ashamed of their actions brought together a turn in society as they knew it. This specific structure geared towards the audience was the main reason why King impacted Americans across the country and not just at the march. These different appeals mixed within the audience to help King influence his purpose of racial equality as each type of person could relate to his moving words.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech titled “I Have a Dream” on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. In this speech, Dr. King is trying to persuade all races specifically Blacks and Whites to take action in order to gain freedom and harmony in the community. He tries to do this by using different techniques to appeal to his audience. It is shown that he uses pathos or emotional appeal throughout his speech. Also there are clear signs of logical appeal which is called logos. In addition, to logos and pathos, Dr. King uses ethical appeal to strengthen his argument. One of the key main techniques that Dr. King uses is figurative language which gives his speech more emphasis on why action is needed.

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

African American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech, addresses racism against Negros and demands equal rights and freedoms. King’s purpose is to motivate his audience to join him in fighting for what they deserve. He shifts from an urgent, demanding tone at the beginning of the speech to a more hopeful and patriotic tone towards the end. Throughout the speech, Dr. King appeals to the audience’s desire to better their futures by utilizing figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, and rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism.

By speaking to everyone as `his friends,' King was already pushing the notion that they were all the same. Friends tend to be of the same status and have respect for one another, King showed that although he was black and oppressed, he still was on the same level as, and had respect for his white oppositionists. Also, this same idea is supported by the fact that King chose to write the essay in first person using I and you instead of a formal third person speech. By choosing to speak this way, King puts his issues onto attainable terms and is a technique used to interest his audience and make them aware of the reality that indifference regarding racial segregation is not something that only affects others, but I, you, us, and we.

He questions the audience about society and what they have done for their community. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one; we can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity,” (King). King knows how to bring the people into the speech to involve every single person standing before him and make them feel like they are apart of the speech. He mentions what has been taken away from them which creates anger within the crowd. King’s ability to appeal to the audience through emotion affected society for decades after and changed the sense of pride the African Americans had.

Throughout King’s speech, he uses the rhetorical mode, pathos, to give the audience an ambience of strong emotions such as sympathy. For example, whites had