Analysis of I Have a Dream Essay

I Have a Dream Speech Analysis

Martin Luther King Jr., an activist, delivered his most memorable speech, I Have a Dream, in August 28, 1963 to more than 200,000 people. Incredible use of rhetorical appeals, especially ethos, metaphors, and repetition demonstrate the demand for racial equality and outcries of social injustice. Research, knowledge, and personal experience helped Martin Luther King Jr. illustrate his ideas of segregation not being lawful to thousands of people, white and colored, gathered listening to his inspirational speech to the Nation.

Kings use of rhetorical appeals helps him advocate his segregation ideas. Distribution of ethos has an improbable effect on the audience. Therefore, ethos was his dominant rhetoric. Martin Luther King Jr. establishes his good-will and creates his credibility by appealing to ethos. King calls to his audience as my friends which sets the mood, expresses his good-will, and establishes a positive connection with the audience. When he quoted words from the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, it supported his equality argument for all citizens. He was not only speaking for the African Americans that were before him but, too all other ethnicities that were not present. Very conscious of his audience, and commanding of his wording, King avoids hurting his credibility. In the very last paragraph of the speech, King provokes another example of rhetorical appeal to ethos, And when this happens- when we allow freedom ringwe will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual. By making that final statement, King builds up his credibility to another level, evoking ethos.

Phenomenal use of metaphors helps King persuade his audience. King relates segregation to other things through the use of metaphors to help the audience better recognize what racism has done to society. One of the most dominant metaphors used in his speech is the extreme weather condition metaphor. In order to stress his point, he utilizes these metaphors in a proper way for instance the whirlwinds of revolt and bright day of justice. Both metaphors bring out an emphasis. Revolt has a meaning of harshness so King uses whirlwinds to compare both. Justice has a sense of light to it, by stating that justice comes upon a bright day, King shows how justice will bring happiness. He states that freedom for African Americans is something that was promised then never given by comparing it: "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'" Audience can easily understand the concept of not getting money they were promised. By cunningly relating lost money to the lost equality of the African Americans, King stirs the audience into associating segregation with something unfair. This metaphor also has an appeal to emotion attached to it that members of the audience felt, which made them feel bad for the injustice. Throughout the speech, Martin Luther King Jr. employs an extended journey metaphor. Paragraph thirteen in his speech is a great example of the journey metaphor he states, one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made lowall flesh shall see it together. King finally ends his speech with the last three paragraphs containing a sufficient amount of metaphors pertaining to a journey. King wants to enhance his idea of freedom ringing across the whole nation and he does so by stating, Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia...from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. By ending his speech with his journey metaphor King evokes an emotion that persuades the audience to end the unjustly segregation.

Lastly, Kings influential speech has a handful amount of repetition. He uses so much repetition to reinforce the idea behind them. I have a dream is repeated eight times in paragraph three. He repeats I have a dream because it evokes the theme of struggle for equality and hope for the end of segregation in the future. In paragraph twenty-seven, let freedom ring is repeated ten times. He wants freedom for all Negros. The word freedom itself is repeated twenty times throughout the entire speech. Martin Luther King Jr. tries to employ the importance of freedom being there for every single individual, especially the colored enslaved entities. The fight is being put up for freedom, and by repeating the word freedom, King makes sure he is heard by drilling these words into the audience with hopes that hearing and processing these words, action will be taken quicker. King sees all people as one and equal. Thus, he uses the word we about thirty times, and the word our is used seventeen times. Each word is being repeated multiple times in order for the audience to open their eyes to the importance of all being seen equally. Emphasis through repetition makes the phrases more memorable, and especially Kings message reveals more effectively.

Martin Luther King Jr. effectively established his goal for a free, equal, and integrated society by using rhetorical appeal, metaphors, and repetition. King was one of the most influential people of all time, a civil rights leader, clergymen, and a writer. His words are very hopeful and deliberate. I Have a Dream had a very memorable conclusion that is a big reason the speech has been memorialized for years.