Martin Luther King Jr's Speech - Essay Example

Critical Analysis Name University Introduction Martin Luther King Jr delivered a speech that went down in history of America as one of the greatest speeches (Zheng, 2014). Through the speech, he made appeal to the audience of more than two hundred thousand people by opening the speech with a catchy statement “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation”. The demonstration that ensued went down in history as the greatest to be experienced in the country and later led to significant changes in the legislation like Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act of 1965 and 1964 respectively (Zheng, 2014). This retrospect paper seeks to analyze King’s speech making use of both rhetorical appeals and how he employed the cannons or rhetoric in the speech. Lit Review Martin Luther King Jr employs various rhetoric strategies in the speech to attain the desired reaction from the audience which would imply the success in the struggles for full freedom and liberty of Black Americans (Candlin et al, 2015). In order to understand the context of the text, King employed the three rhetorical appeals, namely: i. Ethos ii. Pathos iii. Logos Ethos Martin Luther King’s extrinsic ethos is strong basing on his educational background. Having graduated in sociology from Marehouse College, honors at Crozer theological seminary and also earning doctoral degree at Boston University in systematic theology, it offers the audience enough reason to believe what Martin Luther King Jr said (Candlin et al, 2015). Moreover, it is indicated in his biography that due to his public-speaking skills, he had won a second-place prize while still an undergraduate. His involvement in struggles experienced by the oppressed people and Christian theology places him in a better position to advocate for the freedom of the Black Americans. King’s intrinsic ethos is strong considering the diction used in the speech “I Have a Dream”. Basically, King uses a persuasive language that makes the audience more convinced of what they should do to regain freedom for the oppressed (Wang, 2016). The mentioning of the American who signed the emancipation proclamation in his opening statements capture the attention of the audience in a manner that they get interested in what he has to talk about. In addition, he narrates the suffering that the Negros went through which motivates the audience to adhere to the recommendations that he would provide (Candlin et al, 2015). By employing terminologies like unalienable rights, liberty and pursuit of happiness, King appeals to the audience of the possibilities that lie ahead if the freedom sought is attained. Pathos As evidenced in the speech, King makes an appeal to the audience by making reference to what is experienced by Negros as a problem for both himself and the audience. King employs repetition of phrases like: We refuse to believe…………. We cannot walk alone…… We cannot turn back………… The repetition of these phrases appeals to the audience to perceive the speaker as one of them and share the mutual feeling of both hate and distaste in the current state of the Negros and therefore steering them to participate in the demonstration that was the intention of the gathering (Dulau, 2015) Logos King makes the audience experience a logical appeal by employing various techniques to achieve the desired feedback. By applying the analogy of a bad check, King seems to direct the audience to a logical argument about the constitutionalized rights for the Negros (Dulau, 2015) He refers to the promissory note embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the constitution as a beacon of hope that was offered to the Black Americans only to be denied the promised rights and liberty (Dlugan, 2013). This analogy is to be perceived by the audience as logical basing on the fact that it is similar to the manner in which debtors offer checks which later bounce due to bankruptcy and insufficient funds in the accounts. Similarly, the analogy of Jews versus Gentiles and protestants versus Catholics being used would also offer logical reasoning to the audience (Candlin et al, 2015). This is in a way that, just like the two opposing sides in the mentioned analogy finally agreed and work harmoniously together, it should provide hope for the audience who were mostly Black Americans that one day they will probably live in harmony with the whites (Dlugan, 2013). For instance, King employs causal effect mechanism in developing logical argument for the audience. He mentions the struggles the people have to go through before the final effect takes place, that is, freedom for the Black Americans (Zheng, 2014). In the same way, he highlights that the failure of the people not struggling to address the problems they experience will lead to similar suffering in the future (Dlugan, 2013). “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair………………. So we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow” (King, 1986 pp. 504) Rhetorical Analysis Conventionally, it is obvious that Martin Luther King Jr is not the first person to claim having a dream. As a matter of fact, there have been many before him and the only thing that makes his dream memorable is the manner in which he employs his unique style and delivery (Emanuel et al, 2015). Having learnt broadly for a black American at the time, it is evident in the speech that most of the ideas are drawn from other prominent people before him in their sermons. With this revelation, it therefore becomes possible to realize that King is not solely the inventor of the speech and he can be credited for the best manner in which he delivered the speech (Ramage et al, 2015). In Washington DC, King delivered the speech to a large crowd which has gone down in history as one of the largest in American history (Zheng, 2014). Reading through the speech, one notices the systematic manner in which King arranged the speech to meet the expectations of the audience. King opens up the speech with a strong conviction statement on the great hopes he has in the demonstration that succeeds the speech (Ramage et al, 2015). Throughout the speech, he makes references on the suffering of the Negros offering facts on what the constitution states about the rights of the Negros and how the rights have been thwarted by the present governance. Such statements on how the public places are alienating by indicating “f or whites only” and ‘Black and Pets not allowed” provide evidence to cement the narratio element in his arrangement. King also provides the partitio discourse by indicating what the Negros should do to counter the oppression from the white governance (Higgins & Walker, 2012). He suggests marching forward after the speech and making sure that there is no peace without the blacks being granted freedom they deserve. King’s biblical allusion serves to prove to the audience of the possibility of the demonstration being successful. He mentions how the Jews versus Gentiles and Catholics versus protestants were opposed to each other and yet finally they had to live harmoniously together (Emanuel et al, 2015). However, King highlights that, though they have to demonstrate, they should realize that it is not a chance for them to cause chaos in the country but rather “meet physical force with soul one”. Besides, he also indicates that not all whites are opposed to Black Americans freedom by making reference to the presence of some whites in the audience (Ramage et al, 2015). This refutation by King is intended to guide the audience not to focus on physical damage forgetting the intention of the demonstration: freedom (Emanuel et al, 2015). He says the future Americans will be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin (King, 1986). King however employs various figures of speech among many stylistic devices which make his style of writing not just unique but also effective (Higgins & Walker, 2012). The usage of these figures of speech by King provide a closer relationship with the pathos and logos in the speech. One of the stylistic devices employed in the speech is symbolism (Ramage et al, 2015). This device is dominant in the text and seeks to ethically appeal to the emotions of the audience. The Constitution has been used symbolically by King to draw the attention of the audience to the injustices Blacks are subjected to in the name of being offered liberty. He indicates that the constitution is written using magnificent words to blackmail the Negros that they will be free and yet it is the same governance, like the Alabama governor, who still propagate racism (Zheng, 2014). Repetition is used by King to make logical appeal to the audience. The statements like: “I have a dream…….” have been repeated several times in the speech to appeal to the audience that the hope for future is eminent and they should focus on preparing for a better tomorrow by ironing out the elements that hinder their attaining of the freedom like the constitution (King, 1986 pp504). Vivid description is also evident in King’s speech which provides King’s strong ethos in the speech (Higgins & Walker, 2012). The injustices that the blacks go through are described to the audience indicating that King is well versed with the field. The speech draws biblical allusion to help prove to the audience of the hope that they should hold onto has worked for other conflicting societies before. The mention of Gentiles and Jews is indicative of two opposing sides with one being superior to the other and yet later the two became consolidated together at equal levels (Zheng, 2014) . Similarly, the Blacks are being appealed to hope for the best and for the day when they will be considered as equals to the whites and play, dine together at a table. King makes historical allusion by highlighting the details of emancipation period in which the blacks were offered a beacon of light at the very place he was standing making the address. The allusion to history helps him cement the logical appeal to the audience. Conclusion To sum up, the in analyzing the speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr, one notices that the speech makes emotional appeal to the audience through the use of various stylistic devices like symbolism and repetition used by King (Wang, 2016). Moreover, the manner in which King orders the speech makes logical appeal to the audience which is a constituting factor to it being memorable in the history of Black Americans. The involvement of King himself in the speech by using statements like my friends adds to pathos element making the audience view him as part of the suffering black Americans thus setting the mood of the speech (Zheng, 2014). References Candlin, C. N., Crompton, P., & Hatim, B. (2015). Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Logical Fallacies. Equinox Publishing. Dlugan, A. (2013). Ethos, pathos, logos: 3 pillars of public speaking. Six Minutes, 2. Dulau, A. V. (2015). Ethos/Pathos/Logos. Lingua. Language and Culture, 14(1), 160-163. Emanuel, B., Rodrigues, C., & Martins, M. (2015, August). Rhetoric of Interaction: analysis of pathos. In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability (pp. 417- 427). Springer International Publishing. Higgins, C., & Walker, R. (2012, September). Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 194-208). Elsevier. King, M. L. (1986). I have a dream (pp. 503-15). MPI Home Video Ramage, J. D., Bean, J. C., & Johnson, J. (2015). Writing arguments: A rhetoric with readings. Pearson. Wang, X. (2016). Appeals to Ethos and Pathos in Post-Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Press Conferences Handling Tianjin Blasts. International Journal of English Linguistics, 6(1), 100. Zheng, S. (2014). A Stylistic Analysis on “I Have a Dream”. Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, 9(1). Read More