Pathos And Logos In Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream

The year is 1963, the date April 16th. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is sitting in his cell in Birmingham, Alabama writing what we know today as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In this 12 page letter, found in Writing Arguments a Rhetoric with Readings by John Ramage, John Bean, and June Johnson, Dr. King describes his outrage and disappointment with society and finally his want for society to recognize racial prejudice. In his letter, he uses Pathos, or emotional appeal, ethos, appeal to authority/reputation, and logos, appeal to logic, to help with his argument. Dr. King uses a lot of emotional appeal and diction when writing his argument so that he could appeal to his intended audience as best he could.

In his letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King Jr., a civil right activist a Baptist Minister and the creator of “In Letter from Birmingham jail.” King uses concepts of logos, pathos, and ethos to convey his points. Racial tension was high during Martin Luther King’s time, and he was the voice of the black community. He articulated his words carefully and had use methods of civil disobedience to convey his point. One of the first appeals he makes in his letter is from a logos perspective. He states, “if his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways they will come out in ominous expressions of violence” (King 425). King’s example shows that peaceful protest should be heard just as well as a violent protest. The

Martin Luther King Jr used the Aristotelian persuasive method of ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the clergymen to change their decisions of them stopping their non-violent protests. These persuasion techniques allowed King to infiltrate the minds of the clergymen in every aspect of their lives such as religion, white supremacy, and their own logic. He uses religion to shine a light on their perspective and approached problems within the letter that the Clergymen were unaware about. King, using these methods of persuasion, led the Clergymen to contemplate on their decisions which also led to them questioning their logic. Logos, the method of persuasion using logic, allowed King to address problems and bring forth those problems to

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King uses pathos, logos, and ethos to really convey his message. Though he uses all three very effectively, King most effectively uses pathos and logos by giving illustrations of what African Americans faced every day, examples in history in which the law was not right, and the make-up of a just or unjust law.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who seldom cared what other people thought about him, lived in the moment. In doing so, He became furious over the amount of injustice. This essay shows King’s fury over injustice through the use of rhetorical appeals through ethos, logos, and pathos.

In Martin Luther King Jr.ʻs (MLK) “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” excessive use of rhetoric devices are used such as logos (logical), pathos (emotional) and ethos (ethical). Although all examples of rhetoric are present, some seem to appeal more than others. Some of the most effective rhetoric used in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are logos and pathos. While there are multiple examples of ethical (ethos) rhetoric and many more additional rhetorical devices, logical and emotional appliances seem to have an abundant amount of examples relative to these two devices. Therefore, in this prompt, I will further explore the meanings of these implements and examples referring to this topic.

Written by Martin Luther King Jr., the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a paragon of persuasive writing that takes advantage of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to convince its readers to take MLK’s side during the American civil rights movement. The use of ethos defines MLK as a credible writer; the use of pathos appeals to his audience on a personal level; and the use of logos layers his arguments and claims with irrefutable reasoning and logic. By using all three techniques, MLK is able to hold the attention of his readers and persuade them to take his side in the battle against segregation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., uses pathos, ethos, and logos in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” An example of pathos, is when King talks about a little girl seeing an advertisement for an amusement park. She cries when her dad tells her that she is not allowed to go to the amusement park, due to the fact that colored people are not allowed in there. This shows that even children where not spared from racism. One way King uses ethos, is how he quotes multiple historical figures in his letter in order to point out that being an extremists does not necessarily evil.

Ever wonder how logos and pathos are used in writings and compared? We you can always learn how when reading MLK speeches and letters. “I Have a Dream” spoken by Martin Luther King in front of the Lincoln Memorial with thousands of black and whites listening. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King in Birmingham jail to eight clergymen. In this paper I will compare how Martin Luther King uses logos and pathos from his letter and speech.

Dr. King effectively used the rhetorical strategy of pathos effectively through “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to pull at the reader's emotion and sense of

After analyzing Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” I have come to the conclusion that his letter was a very fitting response to the rhetorical situation. Dr. King wrote this powerful letter from his Birmingham, Alabama jail cell in response to several clergymen who criticized the protests he organized as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was masterful in his descriptive writing, exhibiting peaceful, yet stern and powerful influence in his words to condemn the behavior of the clergy. His words evoked emotion, as he described how his people felt, and why they were in Birmingham to stand up for desegregation in the South. In this moving letter, King was truly a master of rhetoric, for he managed to incorporate the three points of the rhetoric triangle, make them evident, and support his argument. Using logos, ethos, and pathos from the rhetoric triangle, King refuted the clergymen’s accusations and utilized their harsh points to present his own views instead. He presented his argument, used passionate rhetoric to explain the reasons they were wrong, and made the reader understand that segregation is fundamentally wrong in a society where all men are created equal.

In the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr was responding to the clergymen of Alabama who criticized his actions. This letter uses rhetorical devices which draw on the intellectual legacy of the Western tradition of ethos, logos and pathos, this makes his letter effectively and persuasive in both content and style.

While unaware of the impact this would have on the American people, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” turned into an iconic piece of American history. King’s tremendous work as a civil rights activist through non-violent protest changed our day-to-day life, and his words captured the entire American population. King was persuasive due to his genuine nature and passion for his work, which is easily communicated in his writing. Specifically in the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King’s use of logos, ethos and pathos portrays the detailed importance of his struggle and the importance for action from the American people.

“Letter from Birmingham” was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to his fellow clergyman who wrote an article “A Call for Unity” in the newspaper that questioned his methods of protest. In King’s response, he was precise as to why the opinions of the clergyman were incorrect and not logical. Throughout the letter, there are rhetorical devices used that enhanced King’s argument. He uses ethos to reach the audience from his own personal experience, pathos to have an emotional connection, and logos for logic or evidence from credible sources.

This critical evaluation essay will be on Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”. This speech was delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28 August 1963. This march was initially organized to focus on the economy, but as the date grew near, the focus shifted to social issues in the country. This march was attended by more than two hundred thousand people, to include the many actors, musicians, and the civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King said “I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation”. (King). Martin Luther King not only touch the hearts of so many that day, and on that he made people aware that there was work