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Rhetorical Analysis Of Mlk's Speech

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In his revolutionary speech given to the people in Washington D.C in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. powerfully voices and effectively persuades his audience through the inclusion of repetition, influential imagery, and allusions to express the need for an end to segregation and the dream that everyone will one day be equal. MLK develops his argument through the use of various examples, told through facts but also pathos and other, more dramatic ways of storytelling. He speaks to express the need for an end to segregation and the dream that everyone will one day be equal in order to restore peace and fairness to all. MLK speaks to all, there isn’t anyone he doesn’t want to hear his message, young and old alike. Repetition was used by MLK successfully …show more content…

An example of this is when he adds, “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight,”(24). MLK puts the image in the reader's mind of all the mountains and valleys, or the highs and lows of the Earth being made the same, and that they will all be held in high regard. In turn, it makes his argument more simple for his readers, and easier to understand. Imagery is also used when MLK articulates, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood,”(26). King paints a picture of the struggle and the hard work they’ve put into this cause, to “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope”(2). He’s explaining that he will do everything in his power to triumph the sadness and lack of hope that his current world gives him, and that he will always turn it into something positive, something that gives him hope. Again, it helps the reader sympathize with his cause by showing all of the struggle and hard work he went through to get here. MLK uses imagery powerfully and effectively through these

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