Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

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Martin Luther King Jr's I Have a Dream speech is one of the most well-known in the world, for it’s incredibly motivating diction and impact of the lives of all citizens of the United States. King uses repetitive and figurative language in his speech to fight for the equality of all men. He responds to the occasion and his audience by showing passion, and truly letting his emotions run the speech. He also makes the speech fairly simple, and informal. King used simple and informal words, because his audience was filled with many different kinds of people, educated, and uneducated, and he wanted to make sure his message was understood by everyone. The speech was delivered 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation supposedly gave all slaves…show more content…
King’s use of words like “this situation will be changed” to show that the African Americans are not backing down, and won’t stop fighting until they have racial justice. The most powerful word in the speech, in my opinion, is “brotherhood”. Brotherhood has a very positive connotation and gives a sense of camaraderie and kinship, it implies trust and love. King says that with equality our nation could be “a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”. The speech is also very inclusive. King constantly mentions the different states to make the residents of those states feel included. He says that freedom will ring from “every state, and every city”, and that we will “stand for freedom…show more content…
He starts the speech with “Five score years ago”, this alludes to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address which was an incredible speech in honor of the men, who fought and died for the equality of all races. Lincoln was the most monumental figure for fighting against slavery during the Civil War, so to mention him, to speak like him, showed that King was the new Lincoln, and would carry the African Americans to equality. King also refers to the Declaration of Independence saying that everyone was “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This is important because King is reminding everyone that America was built upon the principles of equality and they need to extend that equality to all men. King mentions the first lines of America, the song, to show that no matter their race, they are all Americans, and proud of it. Lastly, King alludes to the “American Dream” with his I have a dream speech. The American dream represents all the glory and success that makes people want to come to America, King’s “dream [is] deeply rooted in the American dream”, and talks about what he hopes America will turn into, an equal country for all
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