Robert F Kennedy Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Analysis
The text I’m going to analyze is headlined “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr”. It is the speech of Robert F. Kennedy, a prominent democratic senator from New York, and it was delivered on the 4th of April in 1968.
The opening sentences of the speech show that the author is going to present sad news – that the man who dedicated his life to struggling for the justice – Martin Luther King is killed.
The author stresses that it will be difficult times filled with bitterness and violence, but also notices the reason of Martin Luther King’s death, that he died in the cause of effort to replace that violence from people’s life and to make this world better.
Further on the speaker calls the people to continue this efforts, don’t let them be wasted and find the strength to go beyond this times. Next, he points out that the United States don’t need division and hatred but love and wisdom, and this is the climax of his speech. After that the speech turns into more optimistic way inspiring the listeners to dedicate themselves to tame the savageness of man and to improve the quality of their life.
As this piece of text is oratory speech, its purpose is to inform the auditory, then, to prevent possible negative effect that can be caused by the news and to influence for further actions.
It’s clearly seen that the text has some peculiarities of oratorical speech. First of all, to attract the listeners’ attention and to show his respect the author uses addressing (ladies and gentlemen), with the help of pronoun ‘we’ he lets the audience know he associates himself with them, they all are in unity.
From using by the author pronoun ‘I’ and providing an example from his own life we can learn that he is very personally involved in the situation. Also frequent use of gradation ‘bitterness, hatred, a desire for revenge’ ‘understanding, compassion and love’ ‘all of you, all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world’ plus metaphor
The opening sentences of the speech show that the author is going to present sad news – that the man who dedicated his life to struggling for the justice – Martin Luther King is killed.
The author stresses that it will be difficult times filled with bitterness and violence, but also notices the reason of Martin Luther King’s death, that he died in the cause of effort to replace that violence from people’s life and to make this world better.
Further on the speaker calls the people to continue this efforts, don’t let them be wasted and find the strength to go beyond this times. Next, he points out that the United States don’t need division and hatred but love and wisdom, and this is the climax of his speech. After that the speech turns into more optimistic way inspiring the listeners to dedicate themselves to tame the savageness of man and to improve the quality of their life.
As this piece of text is oratory speech, its purpose is to inform the auditory, then, to prevent possible negative effect that can be caused by the news and to influence for further actions.
It’s clearly seen that the text has some peculiarities of oratorical speech. First of all, to attract the listeners’ attention and to show his respect the author uses addressing (ladies and gentlemen), with the help of pronoun ‘we’ he lets the audience know he associates himself with them, they all are in unity.
From using by the author pronoun ‘I’ and providing an example from his own life we can learn that he is very personally involved in the situation. Also frequent use of gradation ‘bitterness, hatred, a desire for revenge’ ‘understanding, compassion and love’ ‘all of you, all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world’ plus metaphor