Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I Have a Dream” is a commonly known speech that has had a great influence on its audience. The speech was presented by Martin Luther King (MLK) on August 28, 1963, as a way for him to reach out to those who grief and feel the same way he did about the segregation that was going on at that time period. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist who was fighting the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a series of anti-black laws which caused considerable amount of segregation in the South. Martin Luther King Jr. presented his speech to be heard by American’s in power to consider getting rid of the segregation. MLK used rhetorical strategies such as symbolism, diction, and metaphorical imagery to influence his audience. In order to influence his audience, MLK proved these rhetorical strategies by indicating ethos, pathos, and logos to aid his spectators to fully understand his speech and the message of it and what his purpose for it was. Starting at the beginning of his speech MLK used diction that produced an emotional and logical appeal on his spectators. MLK introduces his speech by stating that he is grateful for everyone who appeared at what he called the utmost protest of freedom. MLK goes on creating logical appeal by stating that the Emancipation Proclamation was one of the reasons for why hope was given to the Negro slaves who were victims of the injustices of the United States. The Emancipation was the first reason for why African Americans were becoming the most talked about at that time. Dr. King uses a rhetoric device called anaphora to generate an appeal of emotion and logic. Anaphora is the repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artist... ... middle of paper ... ...de. He wanted to prove that injustices can be rid of and that every man has the right to be treated equal and have the same rights as any other. He concluded his message by using rhetorical strategies such as diction, symbolism, metaphors, anaphora’s, and imagery, with appeals of ethos, pathos and logos. This speech will forever be remarkable for the drive it gave our follow Americans in ending segregation and that freedom can be found within ourselves. “...and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring 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 last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” (Martin)
One device used throughout Dr. King’s speech is epistrophe. Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or words at the end of successive clauses or sentences. King applied this term when he stated, “With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day” (King 3). Epistrophe is effective in this case because it puts emphasis on the fact that the Civil Rights Movement will always work together and will never forget or leave anybody behind to struggle alone. Without this term Dr. King loses a moment to unify the people and emphasis the importance that uniting together may one day bring freedom.
Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered as motivation to fight for their rights and help paint the picture of what America could look like in the future. He does this by in the beginning saying that even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed African Americans are not treated as normal citizens. By saying this Martin Luther King Jr. was saying we should not just be content with being free from slavery. That now it is time to fight for our rights and to end discrimination because of the color on one’s skin.
To begin with, Dr Martin Luther King influenced his audience through the use of written techniques. A written technique applied in the speech is repetition, which is the restatement of words or phrases.
In the beginning of his speech Martin Luther heralds back almost one hundred years by linking the importance of the march to the Emancipation Proclamation(King 3). By doing this King puts the issue of equality into a timeline by showing that while it has been a hundred years since African Americans had been given freedom it also shows that while freedom has been granted to them there has still been very little that has happened to give the African race a better life. Not much further in his speech King say, “ This note was a promise that all men-yes, black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (King 3) Again by taking an important article from America’s past King says that when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they meant for all Americans to be equal. Midway through the speech King pleads with his people to never resort to violence in the face of adversity that is handed to them by their oppressors, because King has came to realize through his own trials that the “their( referring to the white man)destiny is tied up with our destiny.”(King 3) As King’s speech progresses he tells the masses that until they have their rights be equal to those who rights are unbounded that they must not stop until they have achieved their goal. By being able to use
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 documents, metaphors, similes, anaphoras and others.
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech describes the past, present, and future lives of African-Americans. Racism of African-American was a huge issue of the time, which created kairotic moment for the speech and motivated Dr. King to demonstrate the racial problems of the time. The propose of Dr. King’s speech was to inform people about racial equality and fairness by providing hope and a vision of the future. Dr. King’s speech was intended for different types of audience especially for racial supremacists and African-Americans who were discriminated against.
Overall, Martin Luther King’s purpose of this speech was to unite African Americans and Caucasians to fight together for the same cause, equal rights for all people no matter the color of their skin. To successfully convey this purpose, King employed several tools of persuasion in his speech. He did indeed present an example of what could qualify as the "greatest demonstration" of arguments for true freedom for all Americans. He employed the techniques of ethos, pathos and logos with such skill that his audience likely was only aware of a single steering man towards a national unity.
Overall, Martin Luther King’s purpose of this speech was to unite African Americans and Caucasians to fight together for the same cause, rights of African Americans. To successfully convey this purpose, King employed several tools of persuasion in his speech. He did indeed present an example of what could qualify as the "greatest demonstration" of arguments for true freedom for all Americans. He employed the techniques of ethos, pathos and logos, and did it with such skill that his audience likely was only aware of a steering toward unity.
Martin Luther King did not know that his “I Have a Dream” speech would still be iconic 50 years later. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. He was facing the problem of racial injustice for himself and everyone like him. He needed to create a speech that everyone could and would understand, could learn from, and could draw inspiration from. He had to address blacks and whites, he had to say things that everyone could relate to and he had speak in a way that he get the
As we all know the great, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was an equal rights activist and much more has did a number of brave and honorable has gave many speech’s and One of his most admired and memorable was “I have a Dream “He gave the speech On August 28, 1963 in Washington, DC on the steps of Abraham Lincoln’s Memorial. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used many forms of Allusion’s and Metaphor’s to build l throughout his speech.
King uses in his speech is Pathos, which is the appeal to someone 's emotions or beliefs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presented a strong feeling towards African-American people about how they were treated as equal individuals “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (King par. 3). Another example of pathos that Dr. King used was when he uses vocabulary and phrases, such as “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream” (King par. 12). He uses the appeal of emotion, especially the word of choice and diction to let his audience’s know what he would like to see in the
The first rhetorical device that MLK uses in his speech is anaphora; he used this much more than once, and that’s why I think his speech was so memorable. The most known example of anaphora is when he says “I have a dream” (King Online). In one paragraph, he starts almost every sentence stating that he has a dream--which made the audience aware that he had a dream and that he is very passionate about fulfilling it. Another rhetorical device MLK used was tricolon; he also used this one quite a lot. An example of tricolon was when he realized the audience grew tired of listening to him and he shouted, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia…” When MLK said this statement, he instantly grabbed the audience's attention. The last rhetorical device i'll talk about MLK using is a diacope. MLK demonstrated a diacope when he said, “ Free at last! Thank god almighty we are free at last!”. In this sentence he is showing the strong emotion that every black american would experience once they are free from discrimination. MLK used many more than three rhetorical devices in his speech but those are the ones that I believe stood out the
Martin Luther King Jr. is known as one of the best speech writers, and the “I Have a Dream” speech proves that. He is a visionary, and inspiring when it comes to speeches. On the step of the Lincoln Memorial, August 1963, is where he gave this extraordinary speech. The speech was given to protest the unequal treatment of African Americans, but the speech also had a reason why it was so effective. The goal was to inspire people to change, and the speech was structured in a way that made it so. The speech was so successful, because it was a master piece of rhetoric and literary devices that King fully utilized to get reactions out of the people. Martin Luther King Jr. was a well know civil rights activist, but this speech made him know worldwide because the eloquence of the speech. He repeated certain phrases, used metaphors, showed the world he was confident, specific places, and most importantly he appealed to the audience emotions. Dr. Martin Luther King uses the three main rhetorical devices know as pathos, ethos, and logos, to persuade
states that he and all other African Americans will not stop fighting for justice until they are guaranteed “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” He declares that they will no longer stand for being robbed of their dignity while trying to make a living in America. King says, “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Martin Luther King Jr. uses great amounts of ethos to show those filled with hatred against blacks that all they desire is freedom. He plays to the morals of the audience by telling of the demeaning acts of “Whites Only” signs across the United States. King states that there will be no rest until love drives out the darkness that has been hovering over the country since the beginning. He adds, “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” Here he plays to the rhetorical device, pathos, to develop the central idea of how momentous it is to end segregation and racial discrimination. King relates to the anger of the audience as he demands justice for
In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.