Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was an astonishing display of language that persuaded the American nation to dissolve the barrier that stood between equality for all in our great nation. The true beauty in Dr. King’s speech rests in his ability to persuade the audience at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as, the nation to believe that it is a necessity to rid the exigence of segregation. Through the usage of metaphors that engage the reader, King uses language as an instrument to control the audience’s emotions and fuel their ideas that they can be the ones to make the change to propel our nation from one mediocrity to greatness. In his speech, King uses an eloquent blend between symbols and emotions through metaphors to persuade the audience that there is no true constraint that can hold them from achieving their goal and use the historical March on Washington as the solution to this exigence that failed to wither away one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

King uses many similes in the paragraph, but when he's analyzing the "justice too long delayed is justice denied". King uses phrases such as "Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed" and "we still creep at horse-and-buggy like pace". He uses symbolism when saying "the cup of endurance runs over", and "plunged into the abyss of despair". By this King is trying to emphasize that there is a point when the black people collectively will no longer conform to being mistreated unequally, and no matter how much endurance they might have a revolt.

Why has Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream” been widely spread around the world since 53 years ago? One of the most important reasons is that Martin Luther King employed abundant rhetorical devices from the perspectives of logos, ethos, and pathos, including simile, metaphor, euphemism, irony, connotation, imagery, repetition, and parallelism to emphasize his demonstration for freedom and equal rights for American citizens of color, especially for the Negro. Besides, he also took advantage of rhetorical fallacies such as false dichotomy, sentimental appeal, and scare tactic to enhance his persuasiveness and show his strong determination for struggling for freedom. This essay will analyze the specific rhetorical devices and fallacies

“I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most powerful speeches in history. The speech contains many different types of rhetorical devices to help convince the readers to fight for equality and freedom, using devices such as allusion, imagery, anaphora and personification. An example of how powerful the speech with rhetorical devices such as imagery and allusion, is “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” This part of the speech talks about how african americans are being treated wrongfully, and will not be content until there is freedom and equality for all men and women. The quote can talk about how freedom is a problem when

King mentions the Emancipation Proclamation at the beginning of his speech and paints a vivid picture in the listener’s mind of the hope and positive expectations in the negroes hearts after years of slavery, using the lines “ a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negroes”. By comparing “long night” to “captivity”, “daybreak” to “joy” and using the line “ seared in the flames of withering injustice”, he vividly shows the hope, suffering, and difficulties of the Negro people in a descriptive manner rather than simply stating that they felt hopeful. His use of metaphors and the detailed description forces his listeners to picture the situation in their minds and makes the first paragraph more insightful and impactful to the audience. He uses

By utilizing the metaphor in this way, he makes the issues the African American population something relatable and understandable to everyone in the audience – including the white population in the crowd. Throughout paragraphs five and six, King brings in another example of repetition, repeating the phrase “Now is the time…” (Jr.) as a way to stress urgency across the crowd and across America that in that moment, reforms needed to begin taking place. He also continues to use metaphorical imagery, describing segregation as a “dark and desolate valley” and racial justice as a “sunlit path” (Jr.) which continues to stress the importance and significance of being treated like

A Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s " Have a Dream" During the legendary civil rights march of August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. effectively motivated and captivated the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech revolutionized history for many African Americans and advocates of equal rights among all. Many elements contributed to the delivery and the message of his speech,for example,his emotion and power he used behind his words and the specific place where he gave his speech which was the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King effectively utilized various rhetorical devices such as metaphors, amplification, similes, and uses valid and vivid which made his speech one of the greatest of all.

I Have a Dream “I have a dream” speech of Martin Luther King is a perfect example of the rhetoric appeal to their supporters and the entire nation of America, aimed at highlighting one of the most important problems of the time - racial inequality. This speech had achieved the strongest support from the different social classes in the country due to the right structure of the text, and the effective use of the main rhetoric tools of persuasion. To understand the main aspects that increased the influence of the speech, and guaranteed the political success of Martin Luther King, it is important to analyze the text from the point of the rhetoric art. Though the main target of the rhetoric art is to persuade the listeners to support the position and main ideas of the

Martin Luther King Jr.’s ability to connect to his audience while speaking about the injustices of race in America has made the “I Have A Dream” speech a primary example for future talks on the difficult subject. He was able to show he had the power to transform people’s anger and resentment about being colored in America into hope and passion, by proving that race is a social construct that can be changed. The first way in which MLK Jr. did this was by grounding his text on the Black oral tradition of religion. The way a speech is delivered plays a huge role in its effectiveness. The cadence of his speech, the way it was presented rhythmically to the audience, is very similar to the way a pastor spreads his knowledge of the Bible to his congregation. By doing this, it was as if the viewers were listening

King first uses the pair of metaphors “heat of injustice” and “oasis of freedom”. By pairing these metaphors, King allows the audience to see that African-Americans are struggling and can be saved if all of America acts now. The next metaphor King uses is “table of brotherhood” Using this metaphor, King shows that peace can be easily achieved, even by something as simple as accepting each other’s culture and thriving to together as one.

The infamous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech, contains many effective literary devices that were used to a convey a message to the audience in a captivating way. For instance, King repeatedly calls out to the audience, “I have a dream,” signifying the importance of his goal to the audience. King uses an anaphora in an attempt to compel the audience to be the change for the inequality and racial injustice that was ongoing during the 1960s. The target audience for this speech were the supporters of the March on Washington, the speech was said moments after the march, to a large crowd full of white and black people.

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.

King’s use of metaphors in his speech sheds light on what accomplishing the american dream means “Crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Another word that he used was simile. An example of simile that was in his speech was ‘We will not be satisfied “until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. ”Martin Luther King is quoting the Book of Amos in the Bible. Alliteration is also used in the 'I Have a Dream' speech to add particular emphasis to important words and ideas, “We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: For Whites Only.”

The speech “I Have A Dream” was voiced by activist Martin Luther King Junior on the Lincoln Memorial during an era in which blacks suffered prejudice in America, a place in which whites could enjoy the land’s opportunities and freedoms but blacks could not. Martin Luther King’s speech was intended to express his present and future aspirations towards the upheaval concerning the inequality and racial injustice that the nation was experiencing however, lacking understanding thereof. Through the use of anaphoras, powerful imagery, and literary devices Martin Luther King Jr. successfully engaged his audience and portrayed a significant, historic message to his audience: racial equality and justice is overdue.

Words are a person’s greatest weapon and knowing how to use the right ones at the right time and place is even greater. King knows that very well that he chooses to deliver his speech beside a monument of one of the greatest American leaders and civil rights activists, Abraham Lincoln. Crafting his speech carefully, King’s speech became like a wonderful painting of an exotic flower that everyone -no matter where they come from- would agree on its beauty. He uses metaphor language in his speech and personalizes it so that everyone can find themselves between his lines. The most powerful dynamics/metaphors King uses is when he states the following, “Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat [vehicle] of injustice [tenor], sweltering with the heat [vehicle] of oppression [tenor], will be transformed into an oasis [vehicle] of freedom and justice [tenor].” What’s strikingly different about these metaphors is the bunch of contrastive emotions the audience must have got into while hearing that. Basically, in one line, both metaphors sum up the two essential reasons thousands of people marched from all over the states for. First is to express their objection on this exigence of oppression and