Why is a speech given? The main purpose of a speech is to employ an audience with a main idea or proposal. The act of engaging an audience is crucial. A speech is a relationship between the person giving the speech and the audience he is speaking to. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech during a time where racial segregation was very popular. Jim Crow laws were instated and African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens. Blacks and whites were not granted equal treatment, blacks were denied jobs, access to good schools, and were not allowed to sit in the front seats of public transportation. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech “I have a Dream” to call for equal civil rights, economic rights, and an end to overall racism in the United states, while using ethos, pathos, and logos. The "I Have A Dream" speech can be divided by the use of rhetoric in the speech. Voice merging is a frequent approach used amongst African …show more content…
uses the rhetorical strategy ethos in the beginning of his famous speech to appeal to his targeted audience. As he delivered his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he relates Lincoln in his speech when he says “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation.” By King's use of Lincoln, he brought authority into his speech. Lincoln was a powerful and an influential president who was trusted by the American people throughout the civil war. This is providing a strong ethos appeal and establishing credibility with his audience. King also uses the Declaration of Independence to summon authority in his case for African American justice. He quotes, '"unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness"' he is stating that the government has abandoned the accountability to all of the American people. He is setting up his own credibility by using the authority of a great American and our