Martin Luther King Ethos Pathos Logos

In a good article or speech, the author usually needs to balance his or her ethos (ethical appeals), pathos (emotional appeals), and logos (logical appeals) in his writing in order to persuade his readers or audience. The ethos is defined by credibility, which is to convince people to trust the speaker or the writer. The first thing to hold the attention of the readers is that the author has an authority in this particular field and is trustworthiness. The pathos is the impact of emotion. In fact, pathos leads an important role in a good article or speech because it will help to resonate the readers. Logos is based on how logically the writer presents in his article or speech. A clear, organized article or speech will prevent the readers to lose their interest if they are lost in the article or speech. These three different areas are called the Rhetorical Triangle, which needs to be complementary and balance. In Fredrick Douglass’s essay “Learning to Read and Write,” Robert F. Kennedy’s speech “On the Death of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and Malcolm X’s essay “Homemade Education”, they all used ethos, pathos, and logos to establish in their articles or speech.

However, their usage of the Rhetorical Triangle is different; compared to other three articles or speech, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is more balanced on the Rhetorical Triangle because his article is not only evoked readers’ sympathy but also logically tells his opinion base on his acknowledge.
The ethical appeals, which is known as credibility, means in an article is to convince the readers. All four authors have strong ethos in their article, but Martin Luther King has the most balance implantation of ethos in his articles. The way Martin Luther King gains his credibility to have readers read his letter is that most of the readers of Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter are clergymen, which means his ethos is as a bishop of the clergy. The reason why he became a bishop is that he studied the Ancient Greece philosophy and truth. He shows his concern for the people who suffer and tried to stand in a rational position. In his letter he states, “I had tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the “do-nothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest…, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle” (230). King expresses his rational thought and care for the issues through this statement, which will lead out readers’ respect for him. He makes people willing to listen to him because he is fair to everyone and consideration about everyone who struggle, which is the most powerful ethos in these four articles. On the other hand, Malcolm X struggle with his unfavorable situation, but he “during the rest of [his] time in prison [he] would guess [he] wrote a million words” (279). It surprised the readers that even he was in prison, he had put effort into his education. Even though King’s ethical appeals is the most balance one, Malcolm had created a strong credibility to the readers. In Kennedy’s speech, as he is a white man, he started with a sentence “I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world” (218). He used “our fellow citizen” to indicate he is one of them, no matter they are black or white; he used “people who love peace” to implicit his identification, which is a clever way to show the connection between him and his audience.
Emotional appeals are strong in all four articles, but the amount of usage in King’s letter is sufficient to balance out the Rhetorical Triangle. The Usage of pathos in King’s letter might be the smartest compare with the other three authors because he knows what would capture readers’ mind to arouse the softness of human heart. In his article, he uses the repetition of sentences to illustrate the restrict of the black people that they even “seek to explain to [their] six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park” (224). He knows exactly how to arouse the sympathy of the audience because little girls are supposed to be adorable and lovable. In Kennedy’s speech, he used an example that one of his members was “killed by a white man” (218) to assemble his emotion, which reveals a connection with the audience. Furthermore, King’s letter contains a lot of passive voice to clarify why they should stand out for their liberty. He motivates his audience to fight and to actually do something to break the downturn, which is not to “wait” but “direct action”. Conversely, Kennedy’s incentive is to ask his audience not to take revenge, but “to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King” (219), which is to convince his audience, Perhaps, to tell them to stay stable and not to creating any chaos. Even he had mention the lost of his family and aroused his audience’s emotion, but still, King has the most direct act of bring his readers’ attention and emotion.
Logical appeals, considering as logos, plays an important role in articles that it clarifies ideas of the authors and helps readers understand and keep reading without getting lost. King had an extremely clear thinking in his letter. He was able to state his opinion and tell the reason. For instance, he declares, “I think I should indicate Why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against ‘outside coming in.’ I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia” (218). He states clearly and explains why he was there in Birmingham. It explains how he was here, which is he is a president of CLC organization, and why, which is because the people who suffer in the slavery. It tells the reader what he is going to talk about. Kennedy’s logos played well in his speech, too. For instance, he tells the audience that Martin Luther King working at caring his fellow human beings upon his compassion in his life, “and he died because of that effort” (218). He connects why Martin Luther King died and the reason for his death, which is logical. Finally, In Douglass’ article, he mentions the knowledge of bread. He used to carry bread along with him that he exchanges this bread to the hungry young child, “who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge” (127). He explains how he learn to read and write using the metaphor of knowledge of bread. In his logical world, what you gave to others, it shall return in another form.
Overall, Rhetorical Triangle is significant to articles that it will help to analysis. Martin Luther King applies everything in his article. His usage of Rhetorical Triangle is most effective that he not only states clear in his logos, but also arouses people’s compassion and respect. Relatively, Kennedy has powerful Rhetorical Triangle in his speech as well. It is short, but with every element that needed in the Rhetorical Triangle. Douglass establishes his logos effectively that he used an analogy to show us that how much value he put in learning to read and write. Also, Malcolm’s pathos is throughout his article that readers will imagine how his get educated in this awful condition.