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Pathos In Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” –Martin Luther King Jr stated. In other words, no matter what you look like, your beliefs, etc, everyone everywhere should be treated equally and freedom to all. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, that was the point he was trying to get across. King uses rhetorical appeals and figurative language to persuade the audience that equality and freedom should be for everyone. In this speech, King uses the rhetorical appeal of Pathos. One example of Pathos being used in the speech is when King states, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” (1). This quote demonstrates Pathos because of …show more content…

One example of Pathos being used in the speech is when King states, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” (1). This quote demonstrates Pathos because of the way the phrase creates a sense of pride within the audience. Additionally, the effectiveness of Pathos being used in this quote sparks emotions causing people to be persuaded of changing the nation to a great country where everyone can live in peace with one another. A second example of Pathos being used in the speech is when King states, “Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual” (6). Pathos is being demonstrated by bringing up emotions to let America know they will not remain silent during this time of inequality. Secondly, King uses the image of a united and healthier nation to get the audience to think of the possibility of a better, and to become a nation that demonstrates equality. In conclusion, King uses Pathos to persuade America to change for the

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LFBJ Martin Luther King (MLK) uses Pathos to persuade his readers and uses rhetorical questions. MLK appeals to his audience when he states, “ In justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (King 6) MLK. MLK used pathos here to link with the reader’s emotions. It makes the audience think about justice vs. injustice.

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In order to spread his message King used pathos, such as, “Now is the time to rise from the dark desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice,” (King 262). Also he said, ¨... the life of the Negro is still crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination,¨ (King 261). Another example of

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Dr. King uses pathos in the speech. He wants his audience to believe there is hope for racial equality. His use of pathos is fitting for the audience and the

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In DR.King's famous speech that was spoken in the shadow of the Lincoln monument was one of the greatest speeches ever given. In this speech he is caught using what is called pathos appealing to the listener's emotions and less so using logos giving information that proves a point with data and logic. This leads me to the conclusion that he uses pathos better and I think that he knew this too because you can see he uses this in his most important speeches or letters as it helps get support for his cause. In his ¨I Have a Dream¨ speech Dr king says things like ¨one hundred years later the Negro still is not free one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination¨

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King uses pathos to tap into his audience’s mind to think about the importance of promoting action now rather than waiting for others to promote it first. He ends his letter by stating that he “hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation”. (King Jr., p. 658) Dr. King is a man of great integrity and love. He wanted to bring his fellow brother and sister together as a nation strong and not divided.

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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 often gave a clear line of reasoning supported by evidence in his speech, 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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"I have a dream" by Martin Luther King is one of the most well-known speeches that radically changed the landscape of the Civil Rights Movement due to the impact it had on the listeners in attendance as well as the articulate and fluent language. It was on the date August 28th, 1963 that Martin Luther King proudly presented his unforgettable speech in front of over 200,000 people assembled around the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. To many African Americans in the 1960s, his speech was uplifting and encouraging. The factor motivating King to write this speech was that he saw how African Americans were not treated equally even though the Declaration of Independence stated that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed

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In Dr.King’s speech we see a mix between logos and pathos persuasion methods. For example, at the beginning of his speech, he starts to recite many turning points in American history. Such as Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years ago. He uses this historical event to identify the injustices that African Africans felt, by sharing their “shameful condition” that doesn’t live up to other historical documents that he also recites. Such as the Declaration of

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“I Have A Dream” “I Have A Dream”, a quote that many Americans hold dear to their hearts and a quote that is remembered and is associated with an unforgettable movement in history of the Untied States of America. From 1954-1968 one of the most memorable movements in history took place and will not be forgotten is the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the many greats remembered and recognized in the movement for being an influential leader of his time. Having given over 2000 speeches, MLK(Martin Luther King) has one particular speech that stands out from the many and it is his “I Have A Dream” speech. MLK’s message being about peace, unity, fairness and freedom for and to all people shines through in this speech.

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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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The main idea of his speech is that all people were created equal and, although this is no longer the case nowadays, King felt it must be the case for the future. He argued peacefully, yet passionately and powerfully. In preparation for the speech, he studied the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence and he alludes to all three in his address. The intensity of King’s speech is built through parallelism, metaphors, bold statements and rhythmic repetitions:

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In 1963, Martin Luther King delivered one of the most influential and impactful speeches in history. King's I Have a Dream speech was consistently powerful assertions of emotional appeals, repetition and paradox. In King’s speech, he utilizes pathos to build a relationship between his black and white audience. This is evident through his references to both  black and white children and the history of slavery which appealed to the audience members of the older generation.

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961 Words | 4 Pages

used both logos and pathos in his speech and in his letter. He used pathos to appeal to the people 's emotions and logos to appeal to logic,to evidence and to support reasoning. He used pathos to show how unfair and unjust it was and how cruel they are treated. King used logos to show how long it has been that they have silently took this unjust treatment and how it is ruining society and tarnishing the people. In conclusion, King showed how using both pathos and logos can inspire change and shows that sometimes the pen is mightier than the

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

To achieve this, he used rhetorical strategies such as appeal to pathos and repetition. His passionate tone flowed through these strategies, increasing their persuasive power on the people and encouraging them to follow/listen to his message on racial injustice. While pathos elicits an emotional response from the audience to make them more accepting of King’s ideas, repetition structures the speech and emphasizes key ideas for the audience to take away from listening. These two techniques played a crucial role in furthering his purpose and in provoking a powerful response from the audience that made this speech memorable and awe-inspiring. To this day, King’s speech remains one of the most famous and influential speeches in

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874 Words | 4 Pages

He also appeals to Pathos in his speech, where he includes his own family hopes that americans can relate to him. As a father he dreams “ 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 the content of their character”. (King) He hopes his children will live in better world than he did. He appeals to pathos through a concerning father.

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