Martin Luther King Rhetorical Analysis

Martin Luther King does a phenomenal job in persuading his audience with his "I have a dream" speech. Not only with his use of ethos pathos and logos, but with the tone of his voice, and the delivery of his message.

Martin Luther king uses ethos by stating facts that were happening in that time. He states things along the lines of  '100 years later, and the negro is still not free.' Also when he says, "1963 is not an end, it is a beginning, and those who hope that the negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual." This quote is saying that there needs to be a change and this isn't just something that will blow over, this is an issue that will call for much attention to be put into affect. Martin also is someone who is a sufferer in the subject that he is talking about, which gives him great credibility because he is a victim in the topic, not just someone talking about it.

Martin uses pathos when he says, "We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one." The term "we" already implies that Martin is speaking from the heart. He is not just on stage saying a bunch of words that don't mean anything to him, he is tapping into his emptions and speaking the truth.

There is a great deal of logos in the speech, but it doesn't necessarily come from stating facts. Again, Martin is a victim in the subject he is talking about, which makes him a reliable source of information. Martin talks about how negro's don't get treated fairly from the police and how they are told that their vote doesn't matter. These were real live issues that were going on in that time and that is where the logic comes from in the speech, from Martins very own personal experience.

The delivery of Martin's speech was another huge factor to his persuasive ability. Martin took many pauses in his speech. Not because he didn't know what to say next, but because it wanted to let his audience to actually understand what he was saying, and he wanted to give them a chance to ponder on what he just said. Martin also had a great speaking voice that made you want to keep listening. The way he dragged out certain words, and the way he got louder and quieter depending on how well he wanted you to understand what he was saying was a genius move.