Rhetorical Analysis Of King's Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became a civil rights activist shortly after attaining his doctorate in theology from Boston University. He later went on to deliver one of the finest speeches in United States history on August 28, 1963 entitled “I Have a Dream.” Over 200,000 people arrived to hear King deliver this speech. King uses a number of rhetorical devices to accentuate his point such as metaphors, antitheses, as well as anaphora’s. In addressing the nation Dr. Martin Luther King Jr effectively uses the appeals of Ethos, Pathos and Logos to convince the audience to take action in demanding racial justice for African-Americans; He envisioned a nation uniting as one to defend the rights of every ethnicity under the constitution.

Another appeal for pathos is King’s repetition and his reference to how African American people have no rights,

King uses logos in paragraph seventeen, when King is defining an unjust law. He describes an unjust law as “a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal.” In defining the term “unjust law”, King is appealing to one’s logic because definitions are a sound idea. Another example of logos is in paragraph twenty five, in which King is defending his position that he should not be arrested on charges of violence when his direct action plan is the opposite of violent. He compares this to another situation, stating, “Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?” This is an excellent example of logos because no just person would say that it makes sense to arrest the robbed, not the robber. These examples help develop the purpose of the letter because they show how illogical it is that the African Americans are treated this way.

BP 1: C: Initially in the third paragraph King is strongly appealing to with pathos. E: By saying “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation”. A: This example of pathos shows that it is the most important appeal King uses because it shows what it’s like to be a Negro during this time and the reader fells sorry for them. And that you want to help the Negro people. L: This shows that pathos is the most important appeal in Kings Speech. This is really a very big part of society because

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.

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.

In Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech, King uses Logos and Pathos to express the Negroes’ fight for fair treatment. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence… was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’” (pg. 261-262, P4) This quote from MLK’s powerful speech used Logos by presenting a logical and convincing fact. It states how our founding fathers wrote the freedom of African Americans in the same legendary documents that we follow and live by today, not just white people, but all men are created equal. Other than using Logos to appeal to his large audience in front of the Lincoln Memorial, he also presented a large amount of emotional phrases

Doctor Martin Luther King Junior was an expert in persuading his audience. He was a massive advocate for the civil rights movement, and when he saw the injustice being served to the African American community during the Vietnam war, he had to take a stand. In his passage, "Beyond Vietnam- A time to break silence", he uses the rhetorical devices of logos, pathos and ethos to to strengthen his argument for why American involvement in the Vietnam war was unjust. The technique of logos, using logic to persuade an audience, is seen many times throughout this passage.

Martin luther king Jr. used logos and pathos in these two text to help audience understand what he's trying to preach or explain. In King’s speech the types of appeals he uses are logos and pathos. “But one hundred years later,the Negro is still not free. ”(King 261)This logo shows that still one hundred years later african americans still don't have the freedom they deserve.

Ethos was used to gain the trust of his audience, logos gave a logical explanation of his actions and pathos made people feel empathy for African Americans. All three methods were effective on different types of King's audience, but together they convinced a larger audience. In this letter King not only defends his opinion and beliefs but also his people and the organisations helping others gain their

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.

Logos means reason. Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to show why he is delivering this speech and why he wants things to change. He is delivering this speech to show how many blacks and other races, that weren’t being treated equally, really didn’t have freedom like they should. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 6) “Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 5) These quotes are just a couple of the logos quotes Martin Luther King said in his speech.

King is extremely emotive in his speech, and uses incredibly descriptive and poetic phrasing to demonstrate the eloquence of his argument. His use of words like "Now" and "today" imply a great need for immediate action regarding civil rights; the fact that he is so well-spoken is intentionally utilized in the speech to lend credence to his words. Given the stereotype at the time that blacks were unintelligent and uneducated, King 's responsibility to show the capabilities of black rhetoric was great. King, as a religious man, brings spirituality into the speech itself, but not in a self-aggrandizing way; he merely states that racial justice should be done as it is according to God 's will.