Emotional And Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Speech

of diction that creates a logical and emotional appeal on the audience. The main target of this speech is toward the African – American’s living in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. opens up his speech stating that he is grateful for everyone who attended “the greatest demonstration of freedom”. At this point this speech is already creating an appeal of pathos. He then goes on to create a very logical appeal when stating that the Emancipation Proclamation gave “hope to millions of Negro slaves who had seared in the flames of withering injustice”. The Emancipation Proclamation was the first event where African – American’s were increasing up the ladder of social hierarchy. Dr King uses anaphora, the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive clauses, to create an appeal of emotion and logic. He describes that it has been one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation but still “the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination”, “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”, “the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and

The diction is one that calls for justice and it constantly repeats itself. The most repeated word throughout the speech is the word “justice”. This word is accompanied by the request for justice and that too is constantly repeated throughout the text. However the most significant moment in this speech occurs in the closure. It occurs at a time when Martin Luther King demonstrates “his dream”. He uses anaphora combined with powerful diction to create his final emotional appeal. He asks for America to follow up on its promises to become true to its words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created