Rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr's I have a dream speech

¶ … MARTIN LUTHER KING'S I HAVE a DREAM SPEECH

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his infamous I Have a Dream speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. That speech was, in some respects, the pivotal moment of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as well as of the entire Civil Rights Era in American history. From a rhetorical perspective of the speech, the author relied primarily on two of the three rhetorical approaches: namely, logos (the appeal to logic) and pathos (the appeal to emotions). The author did not utilize the ethos approach (the appeal to the status or authority of the speaker) except very indirectly and vicariously, in connection with the social status of those to whom the speech was addressed. More specifically, the author appealed to pathos first, by recounting the sad plight of American blacks in history and in contemporary times. Then, the author appealed to logos by reference to the logical basis of the fundamental right of equality as well as by reference to the need to distinguish between racist and non-racist white Americans, and to avoid resorting to bitterness and violence in retribution for injustice. The author's only (arguable) appeal to ethos was through his reference to the status of his long-suffering audience.

Rhetorical Analysis

The author relies more on the strength of the pathos appeal than any other rhetorical approach. Specifically, as illustrated in the following excerpts, he recounted the sad plight of American blacks since their formal emancipation nearly a century earlier.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity…but one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

Rhetorically, that passage evokes the painful image of the millions of slaves who were brutalized throughout the slavery period, juxtaposing that concept with the metaphorical use of the phrase "seared in flames" as a possible reference to the practice of branding slaves in the same manner as cattle. Likewise, the author uses metaphors about sadness, being crippled, loneliness, and exile to underscore the emotional appeal to justice for American blacks.

The author utilizes the appeal to logos several times, such as by referring to the importance of restricting the tools of gaining justice to those that are, themselves, just rather than unjust, and of recognizing the need to work together with justice-minded white Americans, in the following passages:

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred…We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force…the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

The author makes two essential logical distinctions in those passages: first, that between civil disobedience methods that manifest dignity and discipline from those that are merely wrongful and unjust expressions of bitterness and hatred. Second, the author makes the expressly logical argument that the fight that must be fought is only against those white Americans who oppose justice and equality and that American blacks must work together with those white Americans who are already also on the right side of justice.

The author does not explicitly use the rhetorical technique of ethos except by including himself indirectly as a member of the oppressed group to whom he speaks, such as in the following passage:

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

The author refers to the members of his audience as having already experienced "great trials and tribulations" and he refers to some of them as having recently been imprisoned, knowing full well that all of them already acutely aware of his recently having been jailed in Birmingham. Likewise, he refers to police brutality, also knowing that his audience is aware of his own recent experiences in that regard.