Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Speech

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.

Martin Luther King Jr. built his speech around fighting unjust conditions placed on both African Americans and soldiers of the Vietnam war with non-violent protest. King is arguably the best speaker the world has seen, he knows how to get his audience passionate about the problems America faces while also informing them of what causes these problems.

Once Dr. King arrived to Birmingham jail, he was faced with difficult conditions. An ally of his sneaked in a newspaper that was published on April 12th. There was a statement written by eight clergymen called “A Call for Unity,” which went against what King and his campaign were implementing on the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. The statement enraged Dr. King to write a response. Dr. King used logos in the letter to help support his counter argument against the clergymen. “In spite of my shattered dreams..” King wrote, “... I came to Birmingham with the hope that the religious leadership... Would see the justice.” By stating this, he showed pathos. King put into words that through the process to end segregation, there was hardship along the way, and dreams were destroyed by other people's actions who did not display care towards the black community.

Martin Luther King Jr. is known for his speeches and active movements against segregation and oppression of African Americans in the mid-1900s. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King makes apparent the three artistic appeals, especially logos and pathos. Throughout the entire piece, King repeatedly appeals to logos and pathos using a series of rhetoric including anaphora, imagery, and allusion. By using these literary devices, King is able to effectively correct the misconceptions held by his accusers and justify the behavior of the nonviolent protest by shining light on the unjustified segregation that is holding the African American community hostage. In a response to a statement issued by eight white religious leaders of the South, King maintains a steady and respectful tone conveying to his audience his refinement and good cause.

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.

On the day of August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the world’s most famous speech on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was lively announced on a bright sunny day in front of a heavy crowd, which is said to of had 250,000 mixed racial people standing before the podium. The crowd went wild while he spoke about his future motives to change the way America treats African Americans. The speech was given to persuade a change in America, by ending segregation and giving equal rights to the African American race. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister, and a social activist. He led the civil rights movement from the mid-1950’s to his heavy-hearted death, when he was assassinated on April 4th, 1968. Although he was never around to see the beautiful work he had accomplished, his speech and motive helped in creating the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dr. King performed a motivational speech by using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which influenced Americans to believe the idea that all men were created equal.

To begin with, MLK uses the rhetorical device Logos in his “I have A Dream” speech. He states on page 261 paragraph 2,”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” King selects this rhetorical device to make his speech more influential, respected, and effective by using this piece of logical information. King chooses this example of Logos to make his speech more influential, respected, and effective because when he stated that when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the signature “gave hope to millions of Negro slaves…It became a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” Based on his statement, we can conclude that many African American slaves had hope that other African Americans had a better future ahead of them. This rhetorical device persuades the audience to respect The Civil Rights Movement because he mentioned Abraham Lincoln. To elaborate, this mentioning of Lincoln persuades people to respect The Civil Rights Movement because Lincoln is known as “Americas Greatest President.” Being known as “Americas Greatest President” would influence people to respect the movement because those who believed he was “Americas Greatest President” would most likely contribute to the movement. Abraham Lincoln was known for being “Americas Greatest President” for many reasons, one of the reasons being how he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Mentioning Abraham Lincoln fits into the occasion which is to end segregation and fight for freedom because it shows how even after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation; African Americans are still not free. By this I mean Colored people are still being treated differently and unfairly compared to Whites. This also fits

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech was a pivotal speech given in response to the problem of segregation in the United States. In the speech numerous examples of logos, ethos, and pathos were extremely prevalent. The first part of the essay will consist of the analyzation for Dr. Kings’ speech and its structure. Next, the use of pathos, ethos, and logos will be clarified to show how Dr. King used these techniques to get his message across to the audience. Finally, the conclusion of his speech will be analyzed, and it will be shown it solidified the message he was trying to convey to the world.

That author purpose is to persuade the people that all men are equal and deserve freedom so that a change needs to in our nation. It is for that reason that the “ I have a Dream”by Martin Luther king jr. is going to be used because he uses detail, figurative language, and reason why the negro deserve rights too. Mlk jr shows that people yes all people deserve rights. The paragraphs that you will you read will show and tell how he change the way people look at negro people.

According to Martin Luther King,”The time is always right to do what is right” This shows Martin Luther’s fairness and well tuned logic. So I found that,”I Have a Dream” to be the more compelling speech for many reasons. His central idea of having the rights brought by the founding fathers come to fulfillment is very inspiring. His main ideas ,on the other hand, use rhetorical devices such as figures of speech and imagery to support his central idea well. He also uses allusions and ethos to help his argument.

King uses logos to relate back to the constitution and the Declaration of independence to explain that whites have not kept their promise to the blacks that both black and whites were granted the same

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. uses one linguistic style rhetoric, that provides the audience with an elaboration of the speech “I Have a Dream.” The elaboration of the speech should be high enough for the audience to scrutinize the message, but by clear enough for the audience to understand the substance of the speech. It should be spoke with one style that displays the correct elaboration.

Written in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech titled I Have a Dream changed the lives of millions of African Americans during the American Civil Rights Movement. This speech, which was delivered to almost 250, 000 people, still stands as one of the most significant speeches of all time. Even today, this speech serves as a reminder of the atrocities faced by those victimised by extreme racism and prejudice, and that despite differences in our physical appearance, culture, religious beliefs or social status, we are all human and ultimately, equals. King’s ability to employ certain words and phrases to emphasise this point as well as make any listener or reader feel included, demonstrates that this speech is indeed, a great piece of

At first glance, one could think that the “I have a Dream” speech, by Martin Luther King Junior, is simply about black rights, but his speech is so much more. King has many strategies to reach the speech’s main goal of equality, which includes talking about what the blacks did not get from the government, to the south becoming fair and peaceful place for blacks. King intensifies these points using metaphors that are easy to visualize, contrasting antithetical sentences, and allusions some of the greatest works of writing in the United States. King uses many metaphors and similes to illustrate his point of equality. He uses “America has defaulted on their promissory note,” to draw attention to the fact that the founders of the US had said that everyone was guaranteed certain unalienable rights.

"We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice". [Avoid starting a paragraph on a quote. Instead, create a strong transition sentence in your own words]With these words, King employs the technique of logos, the logic, as he appeals to the African American population not to give up their fight for civil equality. Furthermore, the organization of the speech is also quite logical. For instance, King begins by alluding to history, and then he portrays a picture of a seething American nightmare of racial injustice and ends the speech with dramatic future by painting the dream of a better, fairer future of racial harmony and integration [Maybe a little more on logos].