Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “I Have a Dream” on August 28, 1963 at Washington. Martin Luther King speech was one of the greatest speech in history. However, Martin Luther King was one of numerous featured lecturers that day. “I Have a Dream” became the same with the objectives of the march and the entire civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting on behalf of black community and his dream denoted millions of Americans dream requesting to live in a nation of justice. Martin Luther King combined academic, political, and biblical elements in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Martin Luther King Jr. was dreaming of the world in which racial discrimination will end, and racial relationships would be perceptible with freedom,

is particular effective because he used the bible to create a bond and get an emotional response from his intended audience. “And the glory of the lord shall be revealed and the all flesh shall see it together”. He uses a numbers of allegory thru his speech, he referring to Emancipation Proclamation as a check that they have to cash, and as a father he dream for a better future for his children. This pathos appeals to all parents to hope for a freedom for their children. Therefore, he reminded that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that will free the people of color but he did not respect that commitment. So, Martin Luther King used ethos appeal to invoke the credibility “unalienable rights” of “Life”, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. In the meantime, he used the logos appeal to the value and belief of American people that it’s time for them to open their eyes and realized that they are not free according to the way they were treated. “We cannot be satisfied as long as Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. We cannot be satisfied as long our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “for Whites only”. He used genetic and abusive fallacies to mention that, the speech is against White people and their superiority toward people of color and they are unreliable. And the bandwagon appeal, the

He been trying to convince people of color that they will be free one day this is circular reasoning, and used the straw man appeal to make people understand that after a decade their life haven’t change a bit. “Hundred years later, the Negro still not free. Hundred years later life is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination etc.…” He used slippery slope asking to people to follow the step and everything will follow, freedom, equality, and happiness. The fallacies in this speech were successfully used, because he succeed to reach out his intended audiences which was white people and people of color. He conveyed the message directly to Abraham Lincoln to take in consideration the act he signed and not broken his word. On the other hand, to his fellow Americans he called them to come back to their senses and to stop the discrimination, in the same time he giving hope to the people of color for better future where they will be free and equal to other American