Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream

Anna Leuschen Ms. Christie Advanced English 9 February 29, 2024 MLK’s Use of Rhetorical Appeals Dr. Martin Luther King Jr effectively uses logos and pathos in his “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to persuade the spearfish audience for each occasion. When Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, he used pathos to inspire his audience to make them motivated and hopeful to change the world they live in. For example, when Dr. King states “from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at the end of the day!

In his iconic works, “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. strategically uses rhetorical appeals to convey a message of equality to his audience. He demonstrates an emphasis on pathos, a rhetorical strategy using emotional appeal, in “I Have a Dream” to inspire a vision of justice, while he incorporates logos, a rhetorical strategy using logical appeal, in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to construct a logical defense of the civil rights movement. Using these rhetorical strategies, King is able to convey his message of advocacy for the civil rights movement. In his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King Jr. strategically employed an emphasis on pathos, constructing a base of emotional reasoning to captivate his audience. “Now is

In the year of 1963, when racial discrimination was evident in the community, Dr. King delivered two of his most noted works called the “I have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to the public. These two pieces, quickly following each other in succession, were literary works of Dr. King devoted to the cause of racial equality and used eclectic devices and appeals to achieve that goal. King’s purpose bolstered in his “Letter” and “Dream” speech by key rhetorical devices are supported by audience oriented diction and appeals.

In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 16, 1963, Dr. King is answering criticism from white clergy men. King stumbled upon a statement in a newspaper while in jail and felt the need to write on it. He did it to explain why he was in jail. After all Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a nonviolent protestor. Kings says “I am in Birmingham because in justice is here.” Dr. King wants to see a change. This paper will examine King’s uses of rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” reveals all three rhetorical appeals. It appeals to ethos, logos and pathos.

"The time is always right to do what is right" Martin Luther King states. Though they were living in a world of hatred and discrimination Martin Luther King still fought for what he believed was right. "I Have a Dream" was the most compelling for this reason; M.L.K. states his feelings in an inspirational manner, in which he motivates the people to fight for the blacks rights in a peaceful way. M.L.K. discusses much in his speech with rhetorical devices. Several rhetorical devices he uses are; diction, repetition, metaphors, hyperboles, similes and imagery. While using these devices, he states his ideas, I incorporate three main ideas throughout this essay.

Referring to “vaults of opportunity… riches of freedom and the security of justice”, Martin Luther King Jr. intelligently and metaphorically expresses how valuable equality is for African American citizens (King Jr. 2). After speaking out about injustice and lies, his discourse changes as it comes to an end. King Jr. focuses more on the unification of the nation instead of focusing only on African Americans. He faithfully believes the nation can “transform…. Into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” (King Jr. 5). Highly contrasting from his first metaphors, the audience is provided a sense of peace and faith. Martin Luther King Jr. used many metaphors to mold the hearts of the audience and persuade them to believe in the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ““Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” This is just one of the hundreds of powerful quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his writing and speeches, he used his words as a way to engage his audience and keep pulling them in. Martin Luther King Jr. uses metaphors in his letter to appeal to the audience from an emotional angle; he uses other figurative language, as well as an urgent tone to make his text relatable and important.

African American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech, addresses racism against Negros and demands equal rights and freedoms. King’s purpose is to motivate his audience to join him in fighting for what they deserve. He shifts from an urgent, demanding tone at the beginning of the speech to a more hopeful and patriotic tone towards the end. Throughout the speech, Dr. King appeals to the audience’s desire to better their futures by utilizing figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, and rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism.

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech: “I Have a Dream,” he argues that all people are created equal and racism should be eliminated. He supports his claim by first illustrating an image of the future he believes in by anaphorically saying “I have a dream.” He then addresses the black community by saying they need to take their rights, then he demands America to give the black community their rights, and finally tries to convince America broke their promise. King’s purpose is to explain the black Community’s problems in order to set them free from the prison that is their daily life in America. He establishes a hopeful tone that is meant to represent a promising future for black people, targeted at Whites,

Why has the speech I Have a Dream delivered by Martin Luther King been widely spread around the world since 53 years ago? One of the most important reasons is that Martin Luther King employed abundant rhetorical devices from the perspectives of logos, ethos, and pathos, including similes, metaphors, euphemisms, ironies, connotations, imageries, repetitions, and parallel structures to illustrate his demonstration for freedom and equal rights for American citizens of color, especially for the Negro. Besides, he also took advantage of rhetorical fallacies such as the false dichotomy, the sentimental appeal, and the scare tactic to enhance the persuasiveness and to show his determination to struggle for freedom. This essay will analyze the specific

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was an astonishing display of language that persuaded the American nation to dissolve the barrier that stood between equality for all in our great nation. The true beauty in Dr. King’s speech rests in his ability to persuade the audience at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as, the nation to believe that it is a necessity to rid the exigence of segregation. Through the usage of metaphors that engage the reader, King uses language as an instrument to control the audience’s emotions and fuel their ideas that they can be the ones to make the change to propel our nation from one mediocrity to greatness. In his speech, King uses an eloquent blend between symbols and emotions through metaphors to persuade the audience that there is no true constraint that can hold them from achieving their goal and use the historical March on Washington as the solution to this exigence that failed to wither away one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Contrary to many other politicians, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech sparked inspiration within his nation and other countries such as Britain who were also facing racial inequality. From his use of political rhetoric and his confident body language he was able to kick start a future where everyone was treated equally and through powerful rhetorical devices he was able to change the world’s perceptions on racism and inequality. Throughout a large section of the speech Martin Luther King uses powerful and vivid metaphors to ignite an emotional response from his audience. He starts the metaphor by saying ‘We have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check’ and in the following paragraphs uses jargon such as ‘insufficient funds’,

Throughout the world, many speeches are delivered that convey an essential message to the minds of the audience. Similarly, a revolutionary man delivered a speech to embolden and assert the audience in dissidence against the intolerable discrimination as well as the segregation of African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent figure in the history of Civil Rights, recited his famous speech, “I Have A Dream.” He stood for the ideas of social equality. Throughout his speech, he used extensive rhetorical strategies that made it effective for the audience.

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than two score years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to all under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.

Dreaming in color can bring us together as a harmonic world. Every culture is different, but in some way they all have similarities. Every culture has different traditions, and each religion has different beliefs and celebrations. Cultures are full of unique ideas. People may think that being different is unacceptable, but really it's exceptional to be in a unique and different culture. When everyone dreams in color, the world becomes peaceful and beautiful. Even though our cultures are different they are also full of love and color. If everyone believed this, the world will have a culture that is living the dream.