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I Have A Dream Ethos Pathos Logos

Decent Essays

On the 28th of August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most inspiring, and influential speeches America has ever encountered titled “I Have a Dream”. The inspirational high point of a civil rights movement that asked for wrongs to be righted and for every American to get the same chance at success. He delivered his speech to blacks and whites to help advocate the idea of equality throughout all Americans. Martin Luther King first talks about America’s past, he then gradually moves on to the present and the current racial dilemmas African Americans are facing. Martin Luther then advocates Americans to take actions promptly to stop the racism that has been running through America’s veins for centuries. King relies heavily on pathos, ethos, and logos to convey his message of equality. As well as the use of several fallacies such as, the overly sentimental appeal, the bandwagon appeal, and circular reasoning to interact with his audience. King uses pathos in several parts of the speech to get to the audience emotionally and convince them of what is happening and needs to change. This speech greatly affected the audience because they were reminded of the struggles that were overcome in the past and the sacrifices that had to be made to get there. This connects them emotionally to the day. The phrase, “beacon light of hope” allows the audience to feel the joy of their past accomplishments and current freedom. Although, to contrast this feeling of happiness, he says that “the Negro is still not free”. He means to remind the audience why they are there. This quick contrast in words King uses would make the audience feel agitated and unsafe because it shows how easily their happiness was taken away. He also does a great work with the use of fallacies throughout the speech. “The life of a Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” This uses the sentimental appeal to make the audience imagine the pain and sadness accompanying this topic. Likewise, his use of the Bible causes an emotional response, ‘“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” (Isaiah) He is using the Bible to provide a belief and faith in what he is

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