Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The use of ethos,pathos and logos
The use of ethos,pathos and logos
Mlk letter essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In Martin Luther King’s Jr essay “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” he uses ethos, pathos, and logos to establish his argument. First, let’s establish what all these means to the reader. Ethos gives the writer credibility, Logos is establish to the reader at what is logical, and Pathos is established with sympathy. When you think of Justice for all, we tend to think of your constitutional rights for all walks of life. But King is saying that this is not the case for the African American race back in early history. Some may think that King was only fighting the rights of the African American people, but the truth of the matter, he was fighting for all walks of life. The first argument that I will establish is Pathos. King stated: “If I said anything in this letter that that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me (King p.528).” King is clearly showing emotions in this ...
King makes good use of Aristotle's three argumentative appeals. Though, he does not use strong facts in his logical appeals. This is reasonable, as he was in jail. He did not have any way to get evidence, which would be necessary to provide proof. Nonetheless, this would have made King a much more reliable source. King's letter is mostly an ethical piece. And it has to be, because the letter is a reply to criticisms pointed to King. For whatever reasons, the cultural effects of the letter are great. King used the letter to explain what his logic, reasons, and purposes were.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther Kind JR. uses ethos and antithesis to advocate his view on civil rights. Dr. King’s use of ethos is shown when he says, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King, 7). Dr. King uses this quote to build his credibility through the use of the word “we”. With this, King tells the reader he is a credible source as he has experience fighting in the Civil Rights Movement in the past, and being a member of the oppressed minority. As a result, King is getting the reader to use this information to believe King’s points more. Along with ethos, Dr. King also uses antithesis to further elaborate on his message,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, for having a protest without a proper permit. On the exact day King was arrested, eight clergymen from Alabama wrote a letter called “A Call for Unity.” The letter called for termination of civil activities and demonstrations and designated King an “outsider” and saying that outsiders were the problems in Birmingham and not the blacks that are from there. On April 16 King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which was his responds to his fellow clergymen. He wrote the letter as a means to convince the clergymen and the white moderate that the nonviolent demonstrations that had got him arrested, were a necessity and to enlighten them on why the segregation laws in the southern states needed to be changed. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade the clergymen and convince them in assisting him in putting an end to segregation laws of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama.
To establish ethos, arguments must attain three things: credibility, authority, and unselfish motives. Together, Martin Luther King has an excellent display of ethos in his letter, “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”. King “came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause … Struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice” (1963) His dream of equality is not selfish at all. He goes on to explain his experience being black, being segregated and treated badly as if his people was an exile in their own land. Containing personal experiences and knowing this topic very well, King has an authority to speak. He affirms his credibility by showing he has done his homework by referencing to hard evidence like Jesus Christ, Thomas Jefferson, John Bunyan, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther to support his own cause. Once
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. uses a catalogue of personal experiences in order to appeal to the emotions of the reader, also called pathos, by utilizing concrete language, semicolons, and lengthy sentences. He not only entices the emotions of the fellow clergymen he is addressing, but also society in general, attempting to reveal the true situation of the oppressed Negroes during this time in the Civil Rights Movement.
The letter from Birmingham jail by Dr. Marin Luther King was written as a response of King to nine criticisms made against the Southern Christian leaders and King’s participation in demonstration in Birmingham. King handled many rhetorical devices to convince his opponents such as the white clergymen with his rights to protest, create tension for direct action and to achieve the racial justice. The devices fluctuate between Logos, Pathos and Ethos in a clever way to appeal to his audience and criticize them at the same time. King provided logical supports such as biblical figures, historical and philosophical references. In addition, he used verities of metaphors, allergy and poetic language. In my essay, I will point out some of the rhetorical devices and
Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and to an end to the segregation of the people in the United States back in the 1950s. With King being the leader of a peaceful protest, it failed to bring equally to the colored people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was labeled as an “outsider” who was “hatred and violence” and that his actions were “unwise and untimely” from the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen (clergymen). In response, on the day of April 16, 1963, he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to declare and defense his movement was not “unwise and untimely” at all. To analyze his points, King used the powerful literary devices of pathos- use of an emotional appeal.ethos-
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail brings up the idea of acting in a just or unjust manner. In this letter, he’s saying that it’s moral for one to break a law if they feel it is an unjust one. He stated that any law that’s degrading a person should be considered unjust. Even though the technical reason for his arrest was just, since he was parading without a permit, it was an unjust action because it was used to maintain segregation in Birmingham. Since the reasoning for his actual arrest was unjust, he said that it’s okay to take action against it. What matters, however, is that it is done in a loving and direct way. This could be related to Socrates, who was arrested on the grounds for impiety and supposedly corrupting the youth of Athens. However, he made the argument that he was simply exposing them to what he believed was the truth, which was causing no harm other than giving them knowledge they deserved. Socrates
King clears up any idea that he’s just someone who has broken the law for no reason. He does this by saying; “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” (Para 15) This statement tells us that Dr. King is simply adhering to his moral responsibility by doing as he’s supposed to. He knows that following a one-sided makes no sense, and it would be submitting to evil. He even goes on to quote St. Augustine, declaring that, “an unjust law is no law at all.” (Para 15) Therefore, the segregation laws that were implemented in Birmingham at the time were by St. Augustine’s logic, no law at
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of a peaceful movement to end segregation in the United States this mission led him in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama where officials and leaders in the community actively fought against desegregation. While performing sit-ins, marches and other nonviolent protests, King was imprisoned by authorities for violating the strict segregation laws. While imprisoned King wrote a letter entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in which he expresses his disappointment in the clergy, officials, and people of Birmingham. This letter employed pathos to argue that the leaders and ‘heroes’ in Birmingham during the struggle were at fault or went against their beliefs.
"Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham.
In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, pathos, ethos, and logos are vividly expressed throughout it. All three rhetorical devices are vital to the meaning of the letter; the most influential being pathos. MLK takes advantage of the human body’s strong response to emotion. It is illustrated in his appeal to empathy, exercised mainly through gruesome depictions; his call for action to his peers, as shown when he expresses his disappointment in them as they preserve order over justice; and his strategic use of pathos as a supporting effort for both ethos and logos arguments.
In 1963 on April 16th, Martin Luther King Jr, who was in the Birmingham jail for non-violent protesting wrote a letter in response to a statement from eight white Clergymen, in which they stated that his recent activities were “unwise and untimely.” In this letter King proceeds to state his purpose and reasons for his timing and his protests and powerfully he does so. He most obviously directs the letter to the Clergymen but there seems to be a many different audiences he wishes to enlighten on his thoughts. From what I gather he wants public figures and everyday men to read his letter, and by doing so he hopes to raise awareness for the cruel acts that have been done to the blacks. King gets his point across, that segregation is unfair and morally not right and that man has a responsibility to act against unjust laws, by using many different strategies throughout the letter. He uses logos, pathos, and ethos to do so. While using these devices he shows emotion, gives logic to his reasoning’s and gives credibility as well.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King is able to effectively argue against criticisms through the use of passionate and calm tones, vivid metaphors, and biblical and historical allusions. King uses numerous biblical allusions to resonate with his clergymen audience and to make them realize that they were condemning a righteous movement. The vivid language in metaphors captures emotion and expands understanding. Mr. King was able to do anything to end the injustice in Birmingham and his commitment was shown in his tone.
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail) written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the three artistic appeals of Aristotle are plainly apparent, especially logos. Dr. King repeatedly appeals to logos (Ruszkiewicz) throughout the entire piece; particularly when he says he was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist then gradually gained a matter of satisfaction from the label. He is very impassioned in his language and tone in this part of the letter, yet still makes a strong argument for logic. Despite the overwhelming emotional and personal investment involved Dr. King still allows logic to prevail thus lending him a huge amount of credibility. As a member of the community being persecuted in this case, he might have had trouble remaining objective but clearly he doesn’t let his own pathos take center stage. All in all the use of logic and concise reasoning make a strong argument for the effectiveness of the letter in general.