Essay discussions

delivered by Martin Luther. The essay demonstrates the rhetorical analysis such as ethos, pathos,

and logos to help the audience have a wider understanding of the message sent by Martin Luther

King Jr. and its purpose. The speaker efficiently ethos, pathos, and logos to convey his message

to the audience.

Audience

The person that will be reading this essay is anyone willing to know more about the

speech delivered by Martin Luther. The essay is also meant for those who do not have

knowledge about the speech and those who feel oppressed because of their color. The targeted

audience in the speech was the African- Americans living in the United States. The other

targeted audience includes those who want to learn how to enhance the credibility of their

speeches.

Genre

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To achieve the purpose of the audience, the speaker has chosen to deliver the message in

the form of a speech. With this type of genre, Martin Luther has used pathos to appeal to the

emotions of his audience. For instance, he has used verses from the Holy book to promote an

emotional reaction from his audience. An example of the verse is “The glory of the Lord shall be

revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (American History 1). This verse inspires the

audience to get Luther’s message that they should be united when addressing the problems

affecting them. During the time the speech was made, one of the issues affecting many African

Americans was racism. In the speech also, the speaker has repeated the phrase “I have a dream”

severally. By doing this, the speaker managed to provoke the audience into feeling empathetic

and to have hope. He was trying to inspire the African Americans to have hopes that things

would change in the future. The phrase also shows that he sympathizes with the African

Americans because of the unfair treatment they were receiving from their white counterparts.

The phrase also creates an impression that Martin Luther identified with the problems faced by

the audience at that time. The use of words such as “brotherhood” and “majestic” also

encourages the audience to feel motivated that their situation will change and that he will stand

with them in the fight against racism. He also used pathos to evoke the emotions of parents when

he told them that their children would live in a country where the society would judge them

based on their characters and not their color.

The speaker has also engaged the audience through the use of logos. He has done this by

using examples from real life situations in his speech. This has made the speaker relate to the

message he was trying to send to them. For instances, he talked about how the bad check

affected the African Americans. He said the bad check that was given to the African Americans

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came back marked “insufficient funds.” By using this logos, he was trying to promote the

credibility of his speech. For instance, he wanted to prove to the audience that the African

Americans were not being treated equally at that time. He also cited past events such as the

continuous suffering of the African Americans one hundred years after Emancipation

Proclamation. By using the logos, the speaker managed to earn the trust of his audience.

Also, the speaker used ethos in his speech to prove the credibility of his speech. For

instance, he has done this by using biblical allusion. For example, he said that he believed that

one day the valley shall be exalted which is found in Isaiah 40:4-5. This strategy shows the

audience that the speaker is a credible source that is worth listening to. The language used also

reflect the use of ethos since it makes the speaker to sound unbiased.

Materials

For this essay, I intend to use the speech “I have a dream” by Martin Luther. The speech

is published in the American History website. This source contains the speech by Martin Luther.

Through the speech, one can get rhetorical strategies used by the speaker. The other sources that

would be used include the peer-reviewed sources. These are sources published in various

journals. The sources contain a review of the speech by other authors. The sources would be

used to increase the credibility of the essay by giving evidence of past events and the finding of

other authors on the subjects covered in the essay (Blissenbach 1).

Arrangement

In this speech, the author has begun by informing the audience the purpose of his speech

which is fighting for freedom. This arrangement makes sense because it has helped the speaker

to capture the attention of the audience from the beginning of his speech. The main points of his

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arguments have been clearly explained in each paragraph which helps the reader to read the

points while avoiding confusion. Moreover, each idea has been explained in separate paragraphs.

The subsequent paragraphs after the introduction are also aligned to the idea expressed at the

introduction part. Each paragraph of the speech also contains a topic sentence which gives the

reader a hint of what the author is going to discuss in the paragraph.

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Works cited

American History. Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech august 28 1963. American

History . 2012. Web.

Blissenbach, Bere. What Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream” Can teach us about Expressing

our own Genius. Elephant Journals. 2018. Web.