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Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Speech

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In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. intends to inform the audience of a matter of great import. King asserts that African Americans have been unable to receive equal treatment in the United States and are long overdue for justice. He believes that the time to make this step against racism is near, and campaigns a nonviolent approach to the issue. With great urgence, King emphasizes the need for equality for African Americans and declares that change in civil rights is essential during that era. King begins his speech by alluding to an important historical event. By starting off with “Five score years ago” (King 625), he references Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address Speech, which commenced …show more content…

King begins the trend of repetition in his speech by first stating: “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (625-625). Subsequent to this statement, King repeats “One hundred years later” (625-626) in the beginning of his sentences. He utilizes this anaphora to make highlight his statement about how African Americans, after so many years, still are burdened with the “manacles of segregation” (626) and are subject to heartbreaking discrimination due to their race. At one point in the text, King affirms: “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” (626). In this statement and the sentences juxtaposed to this one, the word “Now” is repeated. The italicized and repeated “Now” (626) highlights King’s arguments for a change in the United States that would promote equality and unite the races. The continual use of the word “we” (626-627) in the speech stresses unity, and this repetition is pertinent in establishing the unity that King desires to see. King addresses and reaches out to the audience and makes the arguments personal with the addition of “we,” and this allows his message to be more forceful. In addition, this personal component captures a larger audience, therefore spreading King’s message out …show more content…

When King begins to state his dreams and hopes for the future, he uses relatively small paragraphs, each commencing with the phrase: “I have a dream that one day…” (627). These short paragraphs are intended to explain his dream about the demolition of segregation and the acceptance of unity in the United States, and the significance of his dreams are seen through the emphasis through repetition. When King implements the song, “My Country, Tis of Thee”, into the speech, he introduces, once again, anaphora into the text. The one sentence paragraphs beginning with “Let freedom ring from…” (628) give examples of places in the United States where freedom would “ring” and have the purpose of emphasizing the grandeur of freedom and how it would be of great significance to everyone no matter where they lived in the United States. The song is a source of inspirations and strengthens King’s

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579 Words | 3 Pages

He masterly uses ethos, pathos and logos in his rhetoric to supply proof to all Americans that racism and segregation are not included in the foundation of this country. “Five score years ago”, which is the opening phrase of Dr. King’s speech serves as an allusion to Lincoln’s “Four score and seven years ago” in “The Gettysburg Address”. That is because it is in fact in “The Gettysburg Address” that Lincoln spoke of all men being created equal. By citing Abraham Lincoln (“…a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today”) King brings authority into his speech as Lincoln was a powerful and great president who empowered the American people throughout the civil war.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

His masterful delivery of these metaphors and the frequent repetition makes the speech much like a poem or a part of a song. This special lyrical and parallel structure helped get his main points across and allows a large audience to understand simple but powerful words (Layfield) . The rhythm and frequent repetition are used to drive home his key points, stressing the importances of his goal. As example, King uses “I have a dream that one day...” and “Let freedom ring..” to open his points on how Americans should change against racial indifferences. Furthermore the King’s parallel structure clarifies and highlights his intent by building up to a more important point.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

King persuades the clergymen to accept the black American’s strive for independence by pulling on America’s heartstrings and its love for freedom. Using this idea of independence, he tells the clergymen that it is time for black Americans to attain freedom, similar to America’s path of sovereignty from Britain’s cruel control many years ago. Essentially, King expresses meaningful, yet tragic events and injustices along with common desires between black and white people to explain the circumstances as to why he advocates for

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1773 Words | 8 Pages

King uses parallel structure and an emotional appeal to refute the clergymen's claim that his actions were "unwise and untimely". Throughout the paragraph, Dr. King uses parallel structure when he repeats words like "We" and "Now is the time" to create a sense of Homeric importance when saying, "We will have to repent in this generation... We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do good." Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy... Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity."

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536 Words | 3 Pages

King repeating these words helps show his/nation’s goal for justice and equality and what we should be working towards as a nation. Secondly, King uses the repetition of the anaphora “Now is the time.” to help emphasize that now is the time to take action and make these goals happen. This phrase helps King emphasize that now is the time to take a stand together and make something happen. It shows that instead of waiting for change to occur naturally, now is the time to make it happen.

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

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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470 Words | 2 Pages

King used powerful and expressive language in order to magnetize sentimental affinity to his listeners, such as: “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” “We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.” “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” King repeatedly used the line “ I have a dream” towards the end of the speech to trigger the emotions of his audience and give them hope. He spoke this line with an extreme emphasis as it encourages his audience to change “today” instead of being contradistinguished against.

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463 Words | 2 Pages

In King's speech he says four times the phrases “One hundred years later” and “Now is the time” that our nation and laws of segregation have not changed. King repeated himself to emphasize that 100 years is a long time to wait for change. When in reality, 100 years is when change should have happened. King is not only wanting to talk about this situation, King is telling and showing everyone that we need to act now. We need to make a move and stop segregation.

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882 Words | 4 Pages

King uses repetition of “I have a dream”. This rhetorical technique helps the audience realize that this is what the goals are for the country, that blacks and whites will be treated equally and become on. It also reminds the audience that change will occur. Martin then shifts to talk about faith in paragraphs 27 through 37 by explaining that faith is the key and soon freedom will be known.

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869 Words | 4 Pages

He states that “They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.” This is his logic, in which society can’t stand together strong and united if one person is not free. In this quote, he is trying to get people to understand that united we stand, divided we fall, and if we stay divided and do not fix our mistakes, society will crumble into a pile of rubble that no one will choose to salvage. King also states that his dream “is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”

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804 Words | 4 Pages

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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695 Words | 3 Pages

The intensity of King’s speech is built through bold statements and rhythmic repetition “We can never be satisfied’, ‘go back’ and ‘with this faith’. King uses the mood effectively, especially in the phrase ‘Let freedom ring’ where it is combined with repetition. Each repetition builds on the one before and is reinforced by Martin Luther King’s ever increasing passion. The use of the words ‘We’ and ‘Our’ help King create the sensation calm and grounded as he delivered his

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

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1272 Words | 6 Pages

King also states “[t]here will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.”, in this King informs everyone that the equal rights movement will not give up and will persevere until they are granted their rights that they were promised. King also explains that it would be detrimental for America to ignore the importance and determination of the movement. King uses these phrases to empower the movement and forewarn the opposers of the coming “... whirlwind revolt ...” to “... shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” (600), this message being central to his point of equal justice and equal rights, for everyone, which I believe gave the movement a boost in strength and endurance to power through adversity and gain the suffrage and rights they

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1229 Words | 5 Pages

He incorporated a lot of biblical allusions to insist the audience that his speech is in accordance to the Bible, as King writes that he has a dream that one day, “every valley shall be exalted,” every hill and mountain “made low,” all rough places will be “plain” and crooked places “straight” and that the “glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” (Isaiah 40:4-5). On another occasion he paraphrased one of biblical statement “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5 ) in his words as “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity “cite .King’s allusions to past events help to create unite both races and inspire them to tackle this problem collectively as both colors experienced American history in some form or another. King not only references the Biblical allusions which emotionally appeal to people but also mentions legal statements like declaration of independence and Emancipation proclamation by mentioning “Five score years …” to refer to Abraham Lincoln’s address and “promissory note” to direct their attention towards their legal rights as mentioned in the constitution.

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