Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

Pathos and Logos Martin Luther King Jr. effectively uses pathos and logos in his “I have a Dream” speech and “letter from Birmingham Jail” to persuade the specific audience for each occasion. To begin with, Martin Luther King Jr. appeals to his audience about the racial acts, and discrimination. He uses pathos to show his emotions throughout his “I Have a Dream” speech. He talks about how everyone should be given freedom “from every mountainside, let freedom ring”. This shows how passionate he is about equal rights, and the emotions he puts into his speech.

Dr. King’s Use of Pathos and Logos Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., effectively uses pathos and logos in his “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to convince his different audiences for each occasion. Dr. King uses logos to convince the clergymen to agree with his opinions on equal rights. Dr. King uses logos in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by discussing the differences between just and unjust laws: ”The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust... A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” (15-16).

King in the Birmingham jail letter is logos. Logos is a statement, or an argument the writer uses to help convince his or her targeted audience by way of reasoning. Dr. King use of logos was a successful plan because it helped the audience become more aware of how blacks are being treated unfairly. It also helped the public understand that it is unhuman like the way blacks are treated. He gave an example in the first page of this letter by saying “ If I sought to answer all the criticism that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such corresponding in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work”. Dr. King uses this statement to reason with the public that even though he is being criticized, he does not focus on his critics because he has a more important goals in mind; which is to stop

In Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s I Have a Dream speech and his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he uses Pathos and Logos to communicate his ideals of freedom and justice to his audience. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses Logos consistently throughout both his speech and letter. One example of Logos in his writing is in paragraph 2 of Letter from Birmingham Jail, in which he responds to the claim from the clergymen that he is an outsider. He explains his credentials and who he is, which both relate to why he was invited to the city. “So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here.

Martin luther king Jr. used logos and pathos in these two text to help audience understand what he's trying to preach or explain. In King’s speech the types of appeals he uses are logos and pathos. “But one hundred years later,the Negro is still not free. ”(King 261)This logo shows that still one hundred years later african americans still don't have the freedom they deserve.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the highest regarded civil rights activists in the mid-1900s. His two texts, “I Have a Dream” and “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, were greatly influential on the fight for African American rights. The way that King was able to persuade his audience, and preserve his their attention, was through using logos and pathos. Logos use a clear line of reasoning supported by evidence, and pathos use charged language in order to prod at the listener’s emotions. In his two pieces mentioned above, King uses these appeals in different areas and to different extremes.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech that he had written while in a jail cell in Birmingham was very powerful and intense; the whole speech was a summary of the goal of the civil rights movement, such as the reasons why he is not waiting anymore and decided to take action or examples of other instances like this in history. The most prominent feature in the speech is the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. Logos and pathos were the most used of the three throughout the speech and were the main reasons why this letter is powerful and intense. There were many other rhetorical devices within the speech such as the metaphors that form similarities between the ways the blacks are currently being treated and how the Jews were treated in the holocaust.

Dr. King uses the basic argument of logos to describe the unjustness of white people. For instance, he uses Reinhold Niebuhr as an example to refute an element of argument. Dr. King adds the

Martin Luther King’s use of Pathos and Logos in “I have a Dream” showcases how he uses the devices to inspire others, compared to how he uses these rhetorical devices in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to persuade the Clergymen. Martin Luther King, also referred to MLK, uses both Pathos and Logos to fit the audiences and occasions for each text. His uses of Pathos and Logos in these two texts are examples of how words can inspire change.

Subsequently, King exercises the strategy of pathos, the emotion appeal. In his statement, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God\'s children". The great use of imagery with the contrast of light vs. dark here definitely draws audience’s attention. Moreover, by making references to the government as a "Bank of Justice" that gave African Americans a "bad check," King describes the situation of the African American people. He proclaims that the "Bank" is not bankrupt and that it was time to "cash the check". These metaphors are easy to understand and are something that the audience can relate to.

Martin Luther King Jr in his speech “I Have a Dream” furthers his purpose of demonstrating himself as a leader to his community in regard to fighting against slavery and segregation by effectively employing pathos, logos and ethos.

The speech “I Have A Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. given on August 28, 1963, is a very important event for several reason. One of the reason is without this speech we would still be in segregated time. Another one would be that he gives credit to a symbolic icon for signing the Emancipation Proclamation. Throughout, the speech Dr. King uses Patho, Logos, and Ethos. Patho is the appeal to emotion.

King uses logos and pathos to help all Americans better understand the African-American struggle of the 1960s. In “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King’s use of pathos highlights the real emotions he is feeling about the America in which he lives in. He then uses logos to expand his reasoning behind the civil rights movement. A similarity between my logos and pathos quotes are that at least one of the quotes from each rhetorical device show some sort of problem between African Americans trying to receive freedom. A difference between the two quotes are that the pathos shows the struggle, and destroyed hope of what had happened. The logos quotes state more of a historical fact. The point trying to be made is that logos and pathos can show the struggle and facts all about the rough world during the

In a period of time where few were willing to listen, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood proudly, gathered and held the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was very effective and motivational for African Americans in 1963. Many factors affected Kings’ speech in a very positive manner; the great emotion behind the words, delivering the speech on the steps of the memorial of the President who defeated slavery. And not only was this message beautifully written for the hope of African Americans, but the underlying message for white people, revolution and peace. To stimulate emotion from both parties of his listeners, King used a selection of rhetorical devices such as allusions to historical

"We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice". [Avoid starting a paragraph on a quote. Instead, create a strong transition sentence in your own words]With these words, King employs the technique of logos, the logic, as he appeals to the African American population not to give up their fight for civil equality. Furthermore, the organization of the speech is also quite logical. For instance, King begins by alluding to history, and then he portrays a picture of a seething American nightmare of racial injustice and ends the speech with dramatic future by painting the dream of a better, fairer future of racial harmony and integration [Maybe a little more on logos].