Rhetorical Devices In I Have A Dream Speech Essay

Rhetorical devices have been used by leaders to persuade people to do things for a long time. One leader that used rhetorical devices was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was an activist of the Civil Rights movement in 1963 that helped end segregation and was considered a great speaker and writer. In his writings and and speeches, Dr King used different rhetorical devices to make his arguments impactful and meaningful. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, surrounded by 20,000 supporters of the Civil Rights movement, is a great example of him using persuasive rhetorical devices based on setting and audience. Some examples of rhetorical devices he uses in this speech are parallelism, repetition, analogy, and charged language.

King using rhetorical devices based on setting and audience is the “letter from Birmingham Jail.” In the letter, he is in jail for a peacefully protesting and is writing to clergymen who criticized him. Some examples of the use of rhetorical devices in this speech include parallelism, rhetorical questions, allusions, and antithesis’. An example of an antithesis and logos in this letter is, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (Paragraph 4) In this letter, Dr. King relies on a use of logos along with a bit of pathos to make his argument. He uses logos to help prove his argument using logic. An example of parallelism and pathos in the letter is, “Wait! It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This wait has almost always meant never.” (Paragraph 13) These are just some of the ways he uses rhetorical devices to make his speeches so incredible. In speeches and writings, Dr. King used many rhetorical devices to persuade people to join his noble cause. Rhetorical devices are have been used and will be continued to be used by leaders to convince people of an argument. When used correctly, rhetorical devices can vastly improve one’s writing and speaking