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

On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Martin Luther King Jr gave his legendary I Have A Dream speech with hopes of advancing the fight for equal rights for African Americans. In his revolutionary speech about racism in the US, King inspired his audience through the use of rhetorical comparisons, repetition, and Ethos to attempt to abolish racial discrimination once and for all.
Firstly, King utilizes rhetorical comparisons to add comparison, and imagery, as well as to stir the audience’s emotion. A purposeful example of this is when King states, “This momentous decree came as a great beacon of light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice” (2). This metaphor tugs at the audience’s conscience, moving many listeners to join the movement; it is also a painful reminder of a great deal of suffering Negros faced before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Furthermore, King argues, “...America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient fund's” (4). The bad check

For instance, King states “ Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (2). Alluding to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation sets the scene for what is yet to come- King's argument that more than a century later, black people still aren’t treated as equals. In addition, King references the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (17). Speaking from his soul, King truly describes how he one day hopes our nation will be able to honor the true meaning of that creed. By using strong allusions, King is able to lay a solid foundation for his argument and reinforce his ideologies about equality for