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A Rhetorical Analysis Of King's I Have A Dream

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In his 1963 speech “I Have a Dream”, King atop the Lincoln memorial orates his vision of what America should be. King does this in a way, that mimics a lawyer giving an opening statement, by laying out a clear beginning, middle, and end. King understands that by doing this he is appealing to his audience on a rhetorical level, allowing him to reach is audience in a pathetic way. King structures his essay in two ways, first he has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and secondly through his speech he includes several rhetorical devices that allow him to strengthen his argument. To start his speech King alludes to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, symbolically placing himself on the same level as Lincoln. This is further heightened by the …show more content…

It is here in this speech where he gives his thesis, on the state of America. To King America has issued a “faulty check” to the African American peoples. He states “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note 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." He acknowledges the American Dream, a pathetic idea. The American Dream is a universally known idea, that gives hope to all those born and new to the United States, however he then goes on to say that the dream is not a reality for the people of color in …show more content…

It his where he lists out his platform one by one, each one building upon the last, and with each I have a dream, he is building up the audiences fervor. He ends the same way he started with the American dream, in the opening he talks about how the founders visioned the American dream, here we see King state what his version of that dream is. The closing part of the speech continues to show pathos, because King knows that he wants his audience to end on this high note, with feelings of pride, hope, and a sense of duty, because he knows that these emotions will be the ones that are going to be talked about after today. And by mentioning not only his children, but other children as well, he brings about the most common and pure for of emotion, a parents hope for a better future for their child. While bringing up his children serves to humanize him more, it also serves to prove that he truly is a man of the people, and that he has the same hopes, and wishes as the rest of the people in the

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Though all of the rhetorical methods are fascinating, the most important aspect is how they relate to each other and the influence they create. As the structure of “I Have a Dream” is very important to its success, King carefully tries to relate all of his rhetorical methods with his structure. For example, part of King’s structure is intended to make the viewer have bad feelings about racism. To make this happen, King utilizes the rhetorical method of pathos along with metaphors and other rhetorical types and schemes to make the viewer feel sympathetic for the blacks. Also, King wisely chooses the rhetorical methods in his essay in order to make them fit with the structure.

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Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech about Civil Rights was spoken out in front of a large group in Washington DC at the Lincoln Memorial. He also wrote a “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to eight clergymen criticizing his actions while he was in jail. In both he used pathos and logos to appeal to people with logic and feelings. In Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech he uses a logic to appeal.

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Dr. King uses all sorts of figurative language in his writing. He uses a form of persuasion known as logos and pathos. Logos is the appeal to logic, and pathos is the appeal to emotion. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” took place during the March on Washington

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Throughout the speech, King employed a variety of techniques to capture the attention of his audience and convey his message of hope and equality. One of the examples of figurative language in the speech is KIng’s use of metaphor. For example, he compares the emancipation proclamation to a great beacon light of hope that comes as a joyful daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. This metaphor helps to emphasize the significance of the proclamation and its impact on the lives of African Americans.

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Through the use of humor, King is able to portray his message about people of First Nations in an appealing form. If the short story were to be written in a solemn style readers would be less attentive. Therefore, by using comic relief, satire, and situational humor King is able to more readily captivate his audience.

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I Have a Dream’s Rhetoric A momentous day in history is exalted by the enthralling speech and resonating imagery of a man whom wanted to make a difference. Just over 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was implemented, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a very riveting speech to over 250,000 Americans during the March on Washington, the nation’s largest demonstration of peaceful protest. With peace typically comes logic of which King very much emanated from his speech. With powerful rhetoric, King captivated an entire crowd and subsequently the entire nation with emphasizing while being freed from the travesty that was slavery people of color are still placed in chains by society’s gruesome yet commonplace demarcations.

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Dr. King’s intent was to inspire each and every person in attendance and not in attendance to join hands and recreate a nation. He uses powerful statements such as “One hundred years later, not free”, “Now is the time”, and “Never be satisfied”. Dr. King’s goal with these statements and ultimately his speech was to change the unequal rights in America, which

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On September 15, 1963, a couple of weeks after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, four girls die in a bombing at Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist church. Three days later, King delivered a speech at their funeral. In his eulogy, King claims that although the children were “unoffending, innocent, and beautiful . . . victims,” they were also “martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity” who “died nobly.” The speech shows another perspective of King’s leadership and how he links American political ideas to Christian religious ideas.

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On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

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He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

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King 's “I Have A Dream” speech is arguably one of the most famous speeches in American history. It’s popularity and influence would mostly be attributed to Kings excellent use of pathos throughout the speech. Although both logos and pathos can be found in “I Have A Dream”, the lines containing pathos are much more poignant. For example, possibly the most famous line from Dr. King 's speech says, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." (King 263).

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the most well-known and critically acclaimed speeches of all time. Every child, every teenager, every adult has at some point in their lives heard King’s speech. They have heard the words “I have a dream” ring through the air. The success of King’s speech is not accidental by any means. King’s speech bears many of the hallmarks of a strong persuasive speech.

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Envision crowds, gathered under a blistering sun, mixed in color, and packed together. They all wait eagerly to hear the message of a humble minister. And so he begins, like a fire rocket from beginning to end. This speech, titled "I Have a Dream", drips with allusions, metaphors, similes, and rhythm. Even in his introduction, King begins with an allusion to the Emancipation Proclamation, follows this with a simile, and then ends it with a metaphor!

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King also discusses his personal life, along with his family and children, to show the crowd that he is fighting for the same things as them. In his I Have a Dream speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. used ethos to increase his credibility with his audience, pathos to appeal to his audience’s emotional side, and logos to appeal to his audience’s logical side. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s use of ethos begins in the first few lines of his I Have a Dream speech. He begins the speech with a direct reference to Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. King speaks of Lincoln as an admired figure in the Civil Rights Movement when he states “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (King 84).

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The “I Have a Dream” speech is well known throughout history to be one of the most famous speeches to be on the subject of civil rights. Throughout the entirety of “I Have a Dream”, Dr. King uses pathos more than logos. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is 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.”

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