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I Have A Dream Speech Rhetorical Analysis

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Martin Luther king once said Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them. The United States of America is the most racially diverse country in the world where African-Americans are striving to live in peace and tolerance. Therefore, multiple civil rights activists appeared who tried to establish a better environment. The most liberal activist of them was Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the 1960s, he engaged in multiple civil rights protests, helping African-Americans to gain their eventual victory. The "I Have a Dream" speech has a massive impact that illustrated racial discrimination of that time. …show more content…

Martin Luther king's structure was intended to make the audience sympathize with the African-Americans, hate racism, and give the Negroes hope for a better world. In order to achieve this, Martin Luther King used rhetorical strategies such as pathos, logos and ethos along with irony and metaphor to provoke the audience. An example of Pathos is shown when Martin Luther King 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." This paragraph emotionally stands out because it is very heartfelt and inspiring. This quote makes the audience think of their children. None of the parents in the audience want to see his child suffer from racism and go through the same horrible things they went through. This quote evoked the audience's feelings to put an end to racial discrimination. Moreover, ethos and logos, other rhetorical appeals, are shown in his speech when Martin Luther King goes back to when the Emancipation of Proclamation was signed. The Emancipation of Proclamation was supposed to free all slaves' and give them hope. Martin Luther King points out that after a hundred years, African-Americans still do not have the freedom that they were promised to have. Then, he points out how the Declaration of Independence stated that all American men should have equal rights. This is also considered ironical since America literally broke their promise to the Negroes and inequality still exists in America. Furthermore, Martin Luther King used metaphor in his speech by saying that racism is a "dark and desolate valley" while freedom is a "sunlit path". This made the audience realize that they live in a dreary environment and gave them hope to live in an improved and unified country where freedom is a right to every

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used pathos, ethos, and logos to reach his audience and explain to them the pain that comes from segregation during a difficult time in civil rights history. The letter was written as a response to several critics that were white religious leaders of the South. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. started out by using pathos to connect to the readers emotions. He explained the difficulty that one must go through on a daily basis as a colored individual. For example, Dr. King had to explain to his daughter why she can not go to a new amusement park because it is not opened to those that are colored and she does not understand because of her age and innocence.

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Martin Luther King Jr’s rhetorical choices stressed the importance of remaining non-violent as well as trying to view the world in the perspective of the opposition. Those choices proved powerful to people of all races. Martin Luther King Jr. incorporated all three modes of persuasion in his speech but it is clear that pathos is the primary vehicle in which he chose to move his audience. Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos because of the diverse audience itself. If he were to spend all of his time writing his speech on the legislative aspect of the civil rights movement, his speech would not have had the same impact as it did.

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Within a few decades of each other both Martin Luther King and Chief Dan George speak to the public of racial injustice towards their own ethnicity. These two distinct activists both display hope in achieving racial and ethnic equality throughout their speeches. Martin Luther Kings’ speech can be seen as forward and direct in portraying his message, utilizing the rhetorical device of logos such as disturbing facts to persuade his audience. An example of this can be seen when he restates the promises of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, “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,

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Deluged with remarkable linguistics, King’s rhetoric wholly epiphanized and unified a country that had been stricken with unrest by war and hate and thus became the epitome of the March on Washington and the summation of the Civil Rights Movement Summarized Speech The speech encapsulates the desire to remain equal among the exalted American people, those of White color. At the outset King utilizes a policy signed 100 years ago as reference to a declaration of freedom that has only been contorted to produce new boundaries on freedom;

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MLK also uses similes and metaphors in his speech to create a picture and show the hardships that African Americans have to go through everyday. "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred..." He shows with this metaphor, that they will gain their freedom and equality through peace, not brutality. Finally, MLK alludes to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence to show the documents that were supposed to give them freedom, but failed to be upheld. "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...would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'...

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s overall tone in his speech is determination; determination to gain equality for all races and colors and for the nation to unite in fighting the injustices of inequality in America in the 1950’s. I Have A Dream, is all about his dream that one day all the injustices in the world will one day disappear. The use of diction brings the reader towards his tone of determination , contributing to his overall feelings towards his mission of wanting freedom and equality, which he portrays throughout the entire speech. King uses bold words repetitively such as "freedom" "dream" and “justice” to open his argument that equality will bring freedom to the black community.

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Civil Rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr, in his speech, “I Have a Dream,” addresses the injustices of African Americans in the United States. King’s Purpose is not only to acknowledge the present issues but to unify the African American population in protest of the segregation of their people. He utilizes concrete diction, imagery, and metaphors in order to convey to African Americans the importance of Civil Rights to all men. King uses concrete diction in his speech to convey the harsh injustices African Americans experience. He begins his speech by identifying that even though the Emancipation Proclamation was declared, “One hundred years later, the life of a Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains

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King’s dialect showed the audience civil right issues, involving many rhetorical strategies using ethos, logos, and pathos, to a racially tempered crowd whom he viewed as different, but not equal. From the very beginning of it , King brings his crowd back to the origin of America when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, that freed all slaves and gave hope to the former slaves. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. He points out the irony of America because Black Americans were still not truly free.

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During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Opening his speech Martin Luther King Jr. sets up his credibility with his use of ethos, referring to the Declaration of Independence saying, “This note was a promise that all men… would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a great deal of logos and pathos appeals to persuade his audience to speak out against segregation and to give all men the rights they deserve. He gave many reasons in his speech to make the audience excited and want to take action, like when he says: “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.”... America has defaulted on this promissory note, ... given the Negro people a bad check… which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” (King para. 4)

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American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King Jr., in his famous speech, “I Had a Dream”, highlights the broken and separated state that encompasses our country at that time in history. (Kirk) King’s intentions were to instill hope in his audience, including the African Americans, fighting for freedom from oppression. He portrays an inspiration filled tone, through multiple rhetorical devices, which motivates his audience to persevere in the tough battle against discrimination and segregation. Martin Luther King starts his speech, by approaching the subject of the disarray in our country. He compares the ideal rights everyone is granted and should possess, to what dosage of equality is actually paid forward.

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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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Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.

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Dr. King was a Baptist minister that was extremely involved in trying to end racial discrimination. Dr. King’s speech is known as “a masterpiece of rhetoric” by scholars. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech makes good use of the rhetorical triangle. The rhetorical triangle is composed of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is convincing the audience that the author

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King ended his speech by describing to world what his dream was for the black and white citizens of The United States. Martin Luther King Jr began his speech by referencing the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that said that blacks could no longer be enslaved to the whites. But, even though 100 years had passed, the African Americans were still not free. Though they were not physically in chains any longer they were still in the figurative chains of discrimination. He preached to the crowd that they were all gathered because they had a check that needed to be cashed (I Have a Dream, 1963).

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