A Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Had a Dream Speech” On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most widely known speech promoting the end of segregation and the equality of African Americans in Washington, D.C. in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Commonly known as his “I Have a Dream Speech,” it was the first of his speeches to be broadcasted on television for all of the United States to watch in their own living rooms. This expanded the beginning audience of an estimated 250,000 to everyone with a T.V. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech made him recognizable to all American people and caused the biggest stir for civil rights, both positive and negative. His speech was one of biggest pushes that ended segregation and as a result, Martin Luther King Jr.
received a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of his combined effect for civil rights (Fairclough, Adam). King’s speech started in a way that was informal. He greeted his audience like he would for one of his sermons with one-sided small talk. His audience was the common people, both black and white, so he made his speech not filled with phrases, words, and concepts the hoi pollio could understand quickly. His purpose was to try to convince others, who were possibly not wanting segregation to end, that it had to stop. King states that “American has defaulted on its promises.” He used the analogy of checking and banks, something most people have had some experience with. “America has given the Negro people a bad check,” he states, giving the people something they can personally relate to. The “bank of justice” gives a good visual, and said the claim that segregation was unjust. He used short rhetoric that people could remember like “Now is the time”, “We will not be satisfied”, “Let freedom ring” from the national anthem, and the famous line “I have a dream.” He made some rhyme like “Shake the foundation of your nation.” These phrases were like a chorus in a hymn at church. This is was comparable to the rhetoric phrases from movements in the past like “Come and take it” (Stephen L. Hardin)” or “Remember the Alamo” (“Remember The Alamo”). Martin Luther King Jr.
used pathos to make his argument. First, he started with an emotional event described as “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” (King, Martin L., Jr,) and describes the moment to make the people remember a huge moment in civil rights history. This was of course Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was much more powerful with the monument of Lincoln behind him while he was speaking. This was some likely planned to be used as visual aid. During his speech, he named different states to make the audience connect with him on a personal level. King established creditability by reputation. By this time in history, he had a large following and was known as one of many leaders for the civil rights movement alongside Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall (Brunner, Borgna). Also, he was a Baptist preacher, and preachers in the south are pillars in the community. There are hints of his craft in the way he spoke during his “I Have a Dream” speech. His beginning statements were like how a preacher would start with greeting his congregation, and his hand motions were like how a preacher would rise his hands to shout out and create
drama. In 1964, a year after his “I Have a Dream” speech, segregation ended. People remember him as a great speaker, a good preacher, or a leader for civil rights. What made his speech memorable? One person said his location (Price, Jenny). Another more interesting theory are that his phonetics and the pitch of his voice (Liberman, Mark). Whatever makes it a commonly known speech, it changed American for the better. He made us “Shake the foundation of (our) nation.”