Rhetorical Analysis I Have A Dream Speech

I choose to make an analyze of Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream”, which also is one of the most famous speeches of all time. I watched a YouTube clip of Martin Luther King’s Speech over and over again before I decided to make the analyze of the speech.

Martin used different parts of the English language to enhance the meaning of his speech and bring out the details. The different rhetorical devices, references to historic documents, and metaphors seemed to have brought about the emotions that Martin was trying to arouse in his listeners. This helped him influence his listeners towards wanting equality for all and changing what was happening in the present so they didn't repeat things in the past .

The very title of his speech

The use of these documents were probably geared more towards the white listeners than it was towards the black because it provided textual evidence from past documents which stated that all men were created equal and all people should have the right to a free life and to happiness. King also refers to the Bible; "Let us not seek to satisfy thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred," is the first reference to the Bible in his speech. Martin does not want the equality-seeking listeners to go out and use force or start a battle to get their freedom because then it would give the white people a reason to fight. They would be able to say that the black people were starting a violent protest and needed to be stopped and therefore retaliate with "physical violence". Martin was smart though and by saying these words he reassured his followers that their destiny and their freedom would not be left in the hands of others and that they would be able to control their own

thank God almighty, we are free at last!" This entire last paragraph of Martin’s speech shows that all of these different races and religions are no better than the other. By doing this it seems as though Martin is trying to let his listeners know that they aren't the only ones that are discriminated against. All religions are looked down upon by other religions and until they can stand at the same level as the others they will all have problems with not being treated as equals. Another literary device that also has a lot of influence is his use of metaphors. "One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty and in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." Martin points out in the very beginning how even though the black people are freed from slavery they are still slaves to the "manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination." When he is speaking about the Declaration of Independence and how it guaranteed all people the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Martin says, "America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’. But