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Analysis of I have a dream speech
Rhetorical devices within a dream speech
Rhetorical devices within a dream speech
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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.
Throughout King’s speech, he uses the rhetorical mode, pathos, to give the audience an ambience of strong emotions such as sympathy. For example, whites had sympathy for African Americans and parents had sympathy for their children. The way that King tells his speech takes the focus off of race and reestablishes it on the aspiration of a world without racism. “…by making his audience no longer hate Negroes and instead hate racism and wish for a new, better world…” (L., Anson). Dr. King made the audience sympathize with African Americans, helping the audience realize that racist people and bias ideas caused the true dilemma of discrimination. Through making the audience realize this, he also gave them hope for a world reborn without racism, without segregation, without discrimination, and without hate. King wanted his children to live in a world without judgment of race, but with the consideration of personality, for nobody should not endure judgment because of the way that they look. He spoke of his own children, which introduced a reinforced emotional attachment to the audience; this gave many parents a scenario to relate to because no parent wants ...
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...s speech made an immense impact on the injustices of segregation and discrimination against people.
Works Cited
Bates, Claire. "Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech: What does it tell us about him?." BBC. BBC History, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.." NAACP. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
King, Martin L. "I Have a Dream." archives. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration , Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
L., Anson. "Rhetorical Analysis of the "I Have a Dream" Speech." Teenink. Emerson Media, Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Luker, Ralph E. "Quoting, merging, and sampling the dream: Martin Luther King and Vernon Johns." Southern Cultures 9.2 (2003): 28+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Sep. 2014.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have a Dream.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Ed. Adam Whitehurst. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 687-690. Print.
King, Martin Luther. I Have A Dream. I Have A Dream. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. 8th edition, Ed.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most important voices of America, who used non-violent methods to fight for freedom and equality for all in his nation. On August 28th, 1969, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King delivered his most iconic speech “I Have a Dream.” In this speech, repetition, ethos, pathos, and logos are used to persuade the audience about the importance of the Civil Rights Movement. To create the greatest demonstration for freedom, he used these literary devices to “dramatize a shameful condition” (“I Have a Dream”). Although his life was taken away, his legacy continues to live on today.
Dr. King is an emotional, inspiring, and strong speaker. His " I Have A Dream" speech tugs a deep root war of emotions in every American’s heart; therefore, this speech is the perfect display of pathos. Even though pathos overwhelm logo and ethos, they are also very much present in his speech. On August 28, 1963 Dr. King made his way to Washington Mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his speech to his fellow Americans. Dr. King commands his speech during an ironic time in American history.
During the 1960s inequality was a major problem in the United States. One advocate for making things right was Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King organized many marches, sit-ins, and boycotting events. But one of Dr. King’s greatest and memorable works has to be the “I Have a Dream” speech. During this speech Dr. King was conveying a message of freedom for all, to 250,000 civil right followers and many more people listening to the radio broadcast. To spread his message Dr. King uses rhetorical appeals like logos to appeal to the reason of his audience, ethos by his examples of practicing what he preached, and his metaphorical language and repetition.
“I have a dream.” One of history’s most famous and well-known lines of the Civil Rights movement spoken by King himself. Martin Luther King Jr. was a baptist minister and social activist, born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. A man who sought for equality in everyone and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He is remembered every year on January 18 as he was given his own day of remembrance after his death. This man was the driving force behind the watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington. Inspired by advocates of nonviolence, such as Gandhi which in turn led him to his amazing people skills and peaceful acts.
King, Martin L., Jr. "I Have a Dream." Archives.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.
In the speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr., rhetorical devices explain and emphasize the point he is trying to get across. He uses the rhetorical devices repetition, rhetorical question, metaphor, and hyperbole. All of these collectively help make the speech connect widely to all citizens, and exaggerate the importance of King’s thoughts. This speech is known for its use of rhetoric devices, which can show us how the use of them affect the people listening to the speech. The use of rhetorical devices in Dr. Kings’ speech provide a clear indication of the point, and allow the speech to have an effect that emphasizes and exaggerates the importance, without losing focus of its’ peers.
On August 28th, 1963, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr would address the American public with his notorious speech, "I have a Dream". Since then those three words " I have a dream ", has became one of the most recognizable quotes or lines in American history, though there was a lot more to King's speech than him just having a dream. Going beyond King's dream, King's speech featured the articulate utilization of rhetorical devices and literary terms, these said devices and terms were used to help exhibit the ongoing racial civil issues of the middle/late 1900s. These devices and terms crafted King's speech articulately, to help King shine light on the lack of African American's rights and equality during this time, while also making King's speech what it is today, a very inspirational and touching speech.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most persuasive and respected speeches of the 20th century. King not only comments on notorious topics but powerfully expresses his opinion without being rude. King's group appeal as a public speaker, civil rights activist, and human being is credited to his distinctive way of permitting people through communication. Martin Luther King Jr. uses an audience-centered approach in his speech because he successfully utilizes rhetorical devices and communication methods to make his message understandable. One useful rhetorical device that King uses to highlight vital points in his speech is metaphors. Some of King's strongest ones are his references toward prejudice: "the quicksands
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
Dr. King announced the “I Have A Dream” speech in front of 200,000 African American families and to a few Caucasians who were at the scene of his speech. Dr. King’s speech was mainly addressed to the African Americans, to explain one day there will be equality in all Caucasians and other ethnicities such as; Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans. Therefore at the time of his speech, his audiences were to the 200,000 people who attended the speech but he was also referring to all other ethnicities as well. To his audience for example, he said as the future years pass, the hardship they are going through would pay off for the future children. For example, in his speech he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be jugged by the color of their skin but by their content of character.
He felt that all Americans should be equal and that they should forget about injustice and segregation. He wanted America to know what the problems were and wanted to point out the way to resolve these problems. In his speech, King uses different types of rhetorical guidelines. He uses them to show his points in a better and easier way to understand. At the beginning he successfully uses mythos. A myth has a deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for the audience.
The purpose of the speech was to address the issues of segregation and racism as a whole. King speaks about the issues of racism and segregation in America during the 1960’s. He encourages the use of non-violent protests and to fight for equality to help America solve the issue. King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.