Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr Speech

“We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights”(17). Dr.King explains why African Americans have the right to be impatient. He wants his white readers to understand why being given equal rights is such a important matter. The writer,a civil rights leader and pastor, is Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

King Jr. finds a way to emphasize his point by using the stylist technique of repetition. Repetition is used in order to make an idea stand out and show the importance of his words. In the speech in paragraph 9 he talks about how a Negro will never be satisfied. The appeal that was best used was pathos because he is asking for change. He is also expressing his emotions and what his fellow African Americans are feeling.

In his 1963 speech, “I Have A Dream”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that now is the time to conquer racial inequality and it can be done neither alone nor through hate. Martin Luther King, Jr. begins his speech where the freedom began- The Emancipation Proclamation. The slaves were freed, but have those empty promises of the constitution been fulfilled? Segregation, as well as subconscious discrimination, have deprived even the free man of their unalienable rights.

Martin Luther King Junior proves and persuades his points on why blacks should be free by using a strong logos argument and powerful rhetorical questions. As Martin Luther King Junior uses logos he shows " In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) Collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive. 2) Negotiation. 3) Self-purification and 4) Direct action "(pg6,prgh 5). Martin Luther King Junior is showing the four steps to a non-violent campaign.

“I have a dream today!” Was once said by Martin Luther King Jr. In my opinion while some might not say I say Martin Luther King Jr is effective in his speech because his use of analogies, parallelism, and his restatement to persuade his audience. Firstly, Martin Luther King Jr is persuasive with his analogies.

The world is shocked once again by a senseless act of violence in the United States. One after another, Negroes have died in the long struggle to bring racial justice to the American continent. Most have died unsung - lynched, murdered, and buried in the swamps of the American South. Until recently their deaths awoke the conscience of few Americans and brought no change to the racialist structure of the Southern economic and social system. Now to their number is added Dr Martin Luther King.

MLK’s use of pathos and repetition is an effective way to persuade his audience about his position on civil disobedience. In King’s speech he says, “Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country” (King Page 6). This evidence, revealing MLK’s use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. The use of pathos is effective because it appeals to emotions and the issue of civil rights and civil disobedience. Civil rights is an emotional subject for those who were affected by it, and MLK is proving his argument on civil disobedience.

Martin Luther King Jr. rarely bothered to answer to the criticisms of his work. He even states that, if he were to try to respond to all the the letters full of grievances and condemnation others feel towards his ideas, his secretaries would have no time for anything else, nor would he have any time to get any constructive work done. That is, until he was confined to the vapid monotony of the cell in Birmingham jail, that he decided to ponder a letter sent to him by eight Alabama clergymen, who censured his nonviolent campaign and urged him to leave the battle for racial equality to the courts. King, in response, drafted his most powerful and extensive letter against social injustice that shed light on the atrocities taking place in Birmingham,

Justice is not treating someone unfairly because of their differences. Quite often many injustices go unnoticed; but one man noticed a big injustice that many people during his time ignored. This man was Martin Luther King Jr, famously known for addressing these injustices via his speech, “I Have A Dream”. This speech inspired over 200,000 Americans to march for a better future. The passionate tone of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I Have A Dream” is magnified and supported through the use of rhetorical elements.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the greatest influence among both white and black people in 1959, during the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. changed how the people viewed slavery and the rights of African Americans with his powerful speech. He brought to the people words of trust, power, and most importantly hope. In 1959 Martin Luther King dedicated himself to the principles of non-violence.

On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy gave his remarks on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Robert’s goal was to inform people on Martin Luther King’s journey and to strengthen people’s attitudes on the whole situation. Robert’s main points throughout the speech were how the country as a whole should move forward, why the states should not resort to violence but unity instead, and he also addressed that the country needed unity, love, and compassion.

Martin Luther King Jr., a minister and social activist, led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. He was an advocate for equality between all races and a civil and economic rights Activist. Because of his leadership, bravery and sacrifice to make the world a better place, Martin Luther King was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. His incredible public speaking skills and ability to properly get his message across can clearly be scene throughout the speech. Tone: Dr. King delivered his speech at the university of Oslo in Oslo Norway in front of a large group of people.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.

“Effective writing can cause riots, ignite revolutions, and induce love. Treat the form with respect” (Ellis). Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, was a revolutionary document. It was not a letter to cause a bloody revolution, rather being a letter to heal. The United States was a festering wound that wasn’t able to heal on it’s own, and needed the assistance of King.

Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most influential African-American activists in American History and was a key participant in the Civil Rights movement, the goal of which was to provide full civil rights to all rights in America. MLK has written many, many speeches and letters in favor of the Civil Rights movement in America, the most famous of them being his legendary “I Have a Dream” Speech and the monumental “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. To attempt to gain support for his cause, MLK employs the use of emotional appeals, also known as pathos, and logical appeals, also known as logos, which aid to stir emotion and reasoning in the listener. It is more than obvious that MLK tends to tug at the heartstrings of his listeners with his emotionally charged language essential to his success. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses more powerful and plentiful examples of pathos in his literature, examples of which being his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, than logos due to the more powerful emotional connection they carry which can convince his listeners to sympathize with his civil rights movement.