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Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

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In “I Have a Dream” (1963), Martin Luther King delivers an invigorating and passionate speech regarding the condition of negroes and their treatment in America. King brings to light the wrongful conditions that surround negroes and draws direct comparisons with the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to highlight the discrepancies between the two. He utilizes allusions, inclusive diction, and metaphors in order to intensify the conditions in the public eye as well as heighten the necessity of a solution. While King explicitly addresses the negro, he is careful to apply a degree of inclusiveness in his speech to convey a message that is applicable to people of all color.
Throughout the speech, King alludes to several important documents in United States history to bolster the importance of his speech and more importantly, his argument. After a brief introduction, King starts by stating, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” King was alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a prominent speech in history where Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality following the Civil War. By alluding to that speech and referencing the Emancipation Proclamation, King established a level of distinction for his own speech. In addition to the Emancipation Proclamation, King referenced the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, comparing the unalienable rights guaranteed to

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